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JOURNAL 



a^onr In Ikt^Xn^ 



THE TSAR 1821. 
WITH A DESCRIPTION OF GIBRALTAR. 



ACCOMPANIED 



WITH SEVERAL ENGRAVINGS. 



BY AN AMERICAN, 

/ — ^^ ^ 



I . Aa-OceC ^/ 






PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, BY ABRAHAM PAUIr 
72 NASSAU-STREET. 

1824. 






Southern District of J\i'ew- York, ss. 
BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the thirtieth day of March, in the forty-eighth year of the 
Independence of the United States of America, Abraham Paul, of the said district, hath deposi- 
ted in this office, the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as Proprietor, in the words follow- 
ing, to wit : 

"A Journal of a Tour in Italy, in the year 1821, Avith a description of Gibraltar. Accompanied 

ivith several engravings. By an American." 

In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled " an Act for the encourage- 
ment of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books to the authors and proprietors 
of such copies, during the time therein mentioned." And also to an Act, entitled " an Act supple- 
mentary to an Act, entitled an Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of 
Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein 
mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching histori- 
•■al and other prints." 

.TAMES DILL, Clerk of the Southern District of JVezo- York. 



XNTTRODVCTIOIf. 



The following work can lay no claim to that degree 
of literary merit which is usually expected in a book 
relating to Italy. It is composed of materials collect- 
ed in the country, and daily noted down : so that in 
giving to it its present form, it may be said that the 
author has only expressed in full what was necessa- 
rily much abridged in his original notes, and recorded 
those trains of thought which the objects themselves 
originally suggested. 

The design which has been kept in view in prepa- 
ring this journal for the press, is, to give a faithful pic- 
ture of objects which came under the author's obser- 
vation, and to bring them up in such a manner that they 
may strike the reader's mind as they at first struck 
his own. For this reason, the descriptions have been 
made diffuse, in order to embrace such circumstances 
as- he deemed necessary to his plan. It may be con- 
sidered a fault to enlarge so much on trifles ; but per- 
haps it will be received in palliation, if not in excuse, 
that they are always the very same trifles which have 
served to fasten in his mind the more important subjects 
with which they were connected, and are still strongly 
and agreeably associated in his memory. 



jv INTRODUCTION. 

The Author has chiefly to apprehend the criticism 
of those who have travelled in the country of which 
he writes ; as they may reasonably look for subjects of 
a higher nature than the details of every day occur- 
rences. For travellers, however, the work was not 
designed; but for those who have no personal ac- 
quaintance with Italy, and who, after having gathered 
from other sources the history of the antiquities, 
arts, and sciences of that interesting country, are dis- 
posed to enter a little into the examination of things in 
common life. Persons of this description may look 
upon this book as a mere journal, in which many old 
subjects are brought up again to view, but usually 
among circumstances in which they have appeared but 
once, and then to the eyes of the author. He has at- 
tempted to preserve some portion of their original dis- 
tincness and interest : if he has not succeeded, he 
must confess that the fault will lie neither with his 
readers, nor with the scenes and objects themselves ; 
but in the inadequacy of his language — the feebleness 
of his pen. 

With regard to the accompanying sketches, they 
are all copied from original drawings made on the 
spot, and like the book itself, intended to represent, 
without embellishment, the subjects to which they 
refer. 



wmmm. iw i^A^m 



We sailed from New-York, on the 19th of October, 
1820, for Gibraltar and Sicily, intending to travel into 
Italy, at least as far as Rome, and indulging some 
undefined hopes of seeing Venice and Genoa. This 
was an exhilirating prospect, particularly at this sea- 
son, on account of the difference of climate ; and the 
political disturbances, which had lately begun in Na- 
ples and Sicily, promised an unusual variety of inci- 
dent. 

It must be acknowledged that a voyage across the 
Atlantic, in a small vessel, is little calculated to che- 
rish lively and romantic ideas, and it was remarka- 
bly the fact with us ; for it was a fortnight or more be- 
fore we could get out of the gulf stream, where we 
were absolutely beset with cloudy weather, fogs, squalls 
and gales of wind ; and the remainder of the passage 
was universally rough and disagreeable. Our books, 
however, afforded us much amusement, as they related 
to the part of the world to which we were bound ; and 
the nautical members of our party in the cabin, were 
ever ready, with some new tale or device, to amuse us 
under every unfavourable change of weather. 

GmRALTAR Bay. — JYov, 29. Last evening, having 
been able to perceive no indications of land, it was 
necessary to proceed with circumspection, for fear of 



(5 VOYAGE TO GIBRALTAR. 

running upon the coast of Africa in the night, as the 
shore is very bold, and the lead is of course of very 
little use in the dark. At sun-set we overtook and 
spoke two brigs, one American, the other English, 
which were likewise bound up the Straits, and found 
them in the same uncertainty with ourselves. We all 
agreed to proceed under easy sail ; and after night 
had closed in, we were able to keep within a few 
miles of each other by occasionally showing lights. 

This morning about eight o'clock, the helmsman 
suddenly exclaimed, that he saw land a-head. No one 
else could perceive it however, and as Jack was the 
greatest '-'"yarn spinner'''' on board, he got this report 
charged on the long list of falsehoods, white and black, 
which had been accumulating on his conscience during 
the voyage. It was a fine, clear morning, and the rolling 
of the waves, and the motion of the vessel exhilarated 
us all. Jack received many a jest concerning his new 
discovery. One soberly inquired, what had become 
of Cape Fly-away ; another thought the prospect for 
"Jack's farm" was not very flattering this season. The 
captain asked if his " old sodger" story about a pain 
in his side, was as big a lie as this : but Jack persisted 
that he still saw land, and coolly described its form 
and appearance. The captain looking once more in 
the direction he pointed, changed countenance on dis- 
covering the forms of lofty mountains faintly delinea- 
ted on the sky, at a considerable height from the hori- 
zon. As usual. Jack was rewarded with a bottle, and 
at that moment the American brig, which was before 
us, hoisted her colours, as a signal that she had made 
the same welcome discovery, and changing our course 
and crowding sail, we all pressed on towards Cape 
Spartel, the north-western point of the continent of 
Africa. 



VOYAGE TO GIBRALTAR. 7 

Several lofty ridges became distinctlj visible as we 
advanced, backed by a chain of distant mountains far 
in the interior ; and the steep sides of the Cape were 
covered with a dark coat of green, interrupted by- 
straight, sloping ledges of whitish rocks, and single 
stones of the same colour scattered about in all direc- 
tions. Here and there were little spots of a brighter 
green, seen by the help of the glass, cut into squares 
by hedges or rows of trees : but we could not discern 
a single habitation till we came in sight of Tangiers, 
which is situated about five miles from the Cape. The 
buildings are white and stancT in a cluster; some of 
them nearly on a level with the water, and others 
stretching along on the top of a hill, which descends 
to the shore with a broken precipice. The town is 
surrounded by a wall, and defended by extensive for- 
tifications: and in the centre is a mosque, with its 
square tower. Wherever the surface of the hill slant- 
ed towards us, it showed green fields divided by 
hedges; and these, with a succession of smooth hills 
beyond, formed an agreeable contrast with the ridges 
of waste mountains, which rose to a great height be- 
hind, ending in the distant conical peaks we had seen 
before from a different point of view. Sunset spread 
its accustomed tranquillity over the scene, in spite of 
the tyranny of the Emperor of Morocco, under whose 
dominion all these regions lay. 

The coast presents the same appearance through 
the Straits ; though as night came on while we were 
beating up. we had no opportunity to see it all. On 
the Spanish side we saw a few huts, lying near cultiva- 
ted fields, some of which were spotted with small trees, 
and had the appearance of our orchards : but the 
greater part of the soil seemed to be entirely useless, 
or. at best, capable only of affording pasture for sheep. 



^ GIBRALTAR. 

In a few hours we beat up to Cabreta Point, with 
the aid of a lighthouse, whence the captain was able 
to distinguish the Rock of Gibraltar through the dark- 
ness of the night, by the glimmering of several lamps 
in different parts of the town, though it was then ten 
miles off! 

At day-light we were entering the bay of Gibraltar ; 
and the dark rock rose before us, with a cloud stretch- 
ed above it in the form of a bow, or, rather, like an 
eagle hovering over its summit. At sun-rise, an exten- 
sive scene opened agreeably before us. The bay is 
about ten miles in length, and five in breadth ; and 
principally enclosed by mountains, which are divested 
of trees, covered with rocks, and worn into channels 
by the torrents which pour down their sides in the 
rainy seasons. Small portions of the soil near the wa- 
ter are cultivated ; but the whole country in sight is 
very thinly inhabited. Algesiras made a handsome 
appearance, being built on the margin of the bay, and 
presenting a cluster of white stone houses, with an 
aqueduct stretching from the hills into the town. With 
a glass we could discover men at work in the fields, 
and others passing out at a gate with loaded mules. 
San Roque stands on the top of a round hill, two miles 
from the bay; and beyond it are distant ranges of noble 
mountains, the last of which are covered with snow, 
though, with us the air is very mild and pleasant. 
The remains of old deserted towers, villages and 
breastworks, are to be seen in many places, serving as 
hints of the military operations of former times. 

The rock of Gibraltar, the key of the Mediterra- 
nean, and probably the strongest fortified position in 
the world, forms the eastern point of the bay ; and is 
no less remarkable for its natural shape and situation, 
than for the artificial works by which it has been ren- 



GIBRALTAR. 9 

dered impregnable. When seen from Cabreta Point, 
it appears much diminished in size ; and from certain 
places in the Straits it looks like a narrow cone, very 
steep on one side, and quite perpendicular on the 
other. It is in fact, however, about three miles long, but 
very narrow, and perfectly straight. The precipitous 
side is towards Spain, and overlooks a low flat plain 
at its foot, several miles in extent, called the Neutral 
Ground. The town is built on the other side, close 
to the water; and a mole has been run out, to form a 
harbour for small vessels, which is overlooked by the 
guns of the new mole — an important work, constructed 
within a few years. Ships are obliged to anchor at 
the distance of a mile or two from the shore, where 
the bottom is rocky, and the situation exposed to the 
whole force of a wind blowing into the harbour, as 
well as to a bad sea. 

From the place where we have anchored, which is 
devoted to vessels in quarantine, we have a full view 
of the north end of the rock, where the greatest 
labour has been expended in fitting it for defence. 
The small zigzag lines, which may be just distinguish- 
ed in several places, are breastworks, where cannon 
and mortars are mounted ; and the long marks which 
point towards some of the most important positions, 
are roads dug with great labour along the steep accli- 
vity, and sometimes turning round the face of a preci- 
pice so steep, that it makes one dizzy to look at them 
even from this distance. A row of dark spots on the 
face of the perpendicular ledge, which begins just 
below the old square castle, are in fact embrasures, 
through which a number of large cannon look down 
upon the harbour; though from this place they appear 
like stains in the rock. A long gallery, made by means 
of gun-powder, runs along behind these openings; so 

2 



10 GIBRALTAR. 

that troops may be marched up, or supplies of ammuni- 
tion raised, without the least exposure to the shot of an 
enemy. Another gallery of still greater size is made in 
the face of the rock, on the other side, to command the 
Neutral Ground ; and the projections from the profile of 
the mountain, resembling towers, are not entirely natu- 
ral, but have been shaped by art, and each mounts se- 
veral heavy cannon. The shore on this side is lined 
with walls of hewn stone, supporting long ranges of ar- 
tillery nearly on a level with the water, the sight of 
which would discourage any hopes of landing. 

It was not a little amusing to observe the fishing- 
boats, frequently passing us while we were sailing 
up the bay. They were worked with triangular sails, 
which were raised on long yards, pointed high into 
the air; and the men on board them made a very 
singular appearance. One of them was manned by 
half a dozen men and boys, whose faces were of a dark 
brown colour, and a strange physiognomy ; with large 
trowsers and turbans. The steersman, an old man in 
a large cloak, sat leaning with his arms almost a-kimbo, 
and an expression of disdain in his hard features, which 
might have become a bashaw, but was ridiculous in a 
fisherman. 

We had hardly come to anchor, when a boat came 
along side, and a dark-complexioned man, with a 
sort of uniform dress, demanded, in broken English, 
whence we came. He was the health officer; and 
his boatmen wore glazed hats marked G. R. The 
papers which were handed them, were taken with a pair 
of tongs, immersed in water, and then spread, by means 
of the boat's tiller and some sticks, for the officer to 
read ; for as we were in quarantine, we were treated 
exactly as if we had actually had the plague on board. 
We found we were to remain in quarantine two or three 



GIBRALTAR. j j 

days ; and our ensign being hauled down, we hoisted a 
white flag. 

The American consul, Mr. Henry, who soon after 
came out to us, very politely remained along side for 
some time, not being permitted to come on board. He 
communicated to us the most interesting news concern- 
ing the troubles existing in Sicily ; and favourable ac- 
counts of the healthiness of the neighbouring Spanish 
and African ports, which would tend to shorten our 
quarantine up the Mediterranean. His boat soon after 
came out again with a welcome supply of fresh beef, 
mutton, sallad, radishes, apples, pears, and a singular 
sort of cabbages, which were twice as large as ours, 
and very flat on the top. The apples were from Genoa, 
but notwithstanding the high character they bear in this 
part of the world, we thought them small, hard, insipid, 
and fit only for the cider-press. 

After dinner, it began to rain from the eastward, from 
which quarter comes the most disagreeable wind known 
in the Mediterranean. The weather was warm, but 
gloomy and dispiriting. The rock looked remarkably 
black, and a thick misty cloud hung on the top of it : 
but at eight in the evening, the air was so clear, that 
the Hghts in the town shone with splendour, and were 
so numerous and irregularly disposed, as to supply in 
some measure the place of stars and constellations. 

JM^ovember 31. It rained repeatedly during the 
night, without the least wind : but the air was clear 
at three in the morning, when only a few lights re- 
mained burning in Gibraltar, and the barking of dogs 
and crowing of cocks could be distinctly heard, 
though all was still on board the ships of different 
nations, which lay on all sides of us ; for the " anchor- 
watch" is kept by a single sailor. The silence all 
around us, had something of solemnity in it, when we 



12 (^IBRALTAK. 

considered the neighbourhood of so tremendous a bat- 
tery, with all its power in a stater of repose ; and re- 
collected how often it had disturbed the tranquillity of 
night, with heavy peals of artillery. At half past three, 
" seven bells" were struck in succession on board the 
vessels in the harbour, some at the distance of two or 
three miles, and others close at hand ; giving a momen- 
tary liveliness to the scene, but soon passing away, and 
leaving all as still as before. 

In the forenoon the clouds disappeared, the sun 
shone, and the weather was clear and warm. A thin 
mist lay along the sides of the neighbouring mountains, 
and collected in dense masses on the more distant 
summits. This in some measure destroyed the naked 
uniformity of their surfaces, which is unpleasant, I may 
almost say disgusting, to eyes accustomed to Ameri- 
can forests. On the opposite side of the Straits, the 
African mountains were in full view, at the distance of 
about thirty miles, and were loaded to excess with 
clouds of mist piled upon each other, and shining in the 
sun. Every thing was now full of life. Voices were 
heard from the ships, speaking in different languages ; 
boats, with long sharp sails, were seen gliding along 
smoothly in all directions, and a multitude of sounds, 
from the haze which covered Gibraltar, came mingled 
and almost dissolved into one general hum. We could 
see men and women on the distant beach of the Neu- 
tral Ground, driving loaded mules and wagons, and 
followed by their dogs. The very fish rejoiced in the 
delightful morning, and came in shoals to the surface to 
see the sun shine. 

If one might judge from the appearance of the por- 
tion of country visible from the bay, this part of Spain 
must be on many accounts, very uninviting. The soil 
is neglected, and the towns compactly built, so that the 



GIBRALTAR. 13 

inhabitants can find little of that comfort which depends 
on room enough at home, and nothing like rural plea- 
sures when they leave their walls. There are no roads, 
properly so called, within this vicinity, excepting 
only those at Gibraltar, and that which the governor 
has made to San Roque, his usual residence. For- 
merly the latter was impassable for a carriage, as is now 
the mule-path to Algesiras. 

December 1. To-day we received notice of the ter- 
mination of our quarantine, and landed at the mole 
among a great number of boats of various sizes, and 
many of them smugglers, which carry tobacco to 
all parts of the neighbouring Spanish coast. They 
are long, sharp boats, carry long sails, and have a 
great number of men to row them, in a calm, and to 
work their guns in cases of necessity; for they are 
armed, and sometimes fight desperately. The land- 
ing mole was out of sight from the vessel, being hidden 
by the new mole, which is well built of hewn stone, 
runs out a great way into the water, and serves the 
double purpose of securing the landing from the sea, 
and from the attack of an enemy. It is strongly forti- 
fied : for as we rowed along, we had to pass before 
the mouths of fifteen heavy cannon. The outer wall 
of the garrison stands on the water's edge; and rising 
above it, just behind each other, were seen three tiers 
of cannon, ready to sweep both the moles and a large 
part of the anchorage. 

We stepped on shore among boatmen and sailors of 
several nations, and merchants collected on the mole 
about packages of goods; and after showing our pass- 
ports, entered the outer gate, called the Water Gate. 
Here we found ourselves at once in the midst of the 
bustle and din of Gibraltar, the crowd of which, is as 
heterogeneous as can well be imagined : Spanish. 



14 



GIBRALTAR. 



Moorish, English and Genoese sailors — Spanish mar- 
ket people driving loaded donkies — Moorish Jews car- 
rying monstrous burthens, with small scullcaps, and 
loose trowsers cut off at the knee, leaving their mus- 
cular legs bare. These last are porters, and are all re- 
markably strong men. The streets were so narrow and 
crooked, and the crowd so great, that it was difficult 
to move. The houses are filled with inhabitants, for 
the limited ground within the walls has long since been 
occupied, and the population has increased till every 
thing is as full as a rabbit-warren. As we passed along 
we heard the confused sounds of half a dozen un- 
known languages, mixed with English, and the national 
dialects of Scotch and Irish soldiers. The shops pre- 
sented a singular collection of various wares from all 
parts of the world, and the market was stocked with 
many strange roots, fruits, and fish, such as we had 
never before seen, except in books of natural his- 
tory. 

Our inn is the only one in Gibraltar which makes 
any pretentions to the English style, and is still in some 
respects, half Spanish. From the dining-room, which 
is on the second floor, we look down upon the princi- 
pal street, and the Custom House, where the passers- 
by are continually presenting to our eyes the costumes 
of different nations, in new and striking contrasts. 
Here are peasants from the neighbouring parts of An- 
dalusia, dressed in round jackets and small clothes of 
green velvet, broad brimmed hats, leathern gaiters, 
scarlet sashes, and ruffled shirts ; some also in panta- 
loons trimmed with rows of buttons and cord ; English 
ladies with Leghorn hats and merino shawls ; Spanish 
women in black dresses, or muffled in scarlet cloaks 
with high hoods; besides Genoese sailors, Barbary 
Jews and English soldiers. 



GIBRALTAR. 15 

We had hardly recovered from the first impression 
made by this new scene, when we had to sit down to 
dinner, and were confused afresh by a varied conver- 
sation, which after a long and sedate voyage, set our 
minds vibrating in a most singular manner between 
Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. A Scotch ship- 
master, who had just arrived from Algiers, made an 
expose of the views and designs of the " Algeric" 
government, and one described the reception given by 
Governor Don to a British plenipotentiary a few days 
since. On his arrival he was saluted by all the cannon 
in the garrison ; and during his stay, St. Michael's 
Cave was illuminated and visited by a large party. On 
inquiring, we found nobody pretended to speak with 
confidence of the state of things at Sicily ; but the last 
accounts were of so gloomy a nature, and the charac- 
ter of the nation is so w^ell known, that even a short 
stay there, at this time, must be insecure if not dan- 
gerous. 

This afternoon we went to look at a house where 
we had been recommended to take private lodgings, 
by a friend who had little to say in their praise, but 
spoke of them as very commodious for Gibraltar. 
The house is owned by an Englishman ; and the only 
entrance, (such the universal scarcity of room,) is 
through his little shop into a court-yard, scarce twenty 
feet square. In the Spanish fashion, the house is built 
round this little open square, in one corner of which 
were two women at their wash-tubs, in another, the 
stable of a she-goat, [the family cow,] and in a third, 
a flight of stairs leading to the upper apartments. 
These we mounted at the peril of our necks, and 
were introduced into two chambers, eight or ten feet 
square, one of which was lighted through the door, 
and the other through a square hole without glass, and 



IQ GIBRALTAR, 

capable of being covered only with a swinging shutter 
made of a palm-leaf netting. 

At sun-set the report of a cannon was heard from the 
top of the rock, and drums and horns instantly began 
their martial notes to summon the soldiers to their 
various places of parade. All along the margin of the 
water is a broad carriage-road, or rather military path, 
faced with strong parapets, and planted with a row of 
cannon. According to the rules of fortification, the 
line of the shore is occasionally broken by a project- 
ing bastion, the guns of which command every point 
on three sides ; and every thing is regulated with such 
perfect precision, that each soldier knows his place 
and his duty. Every part of this fortified margin has 
its particular name written in large letters upon the 
parapets, whether it be gallery, curtain, bastion, or 
battery, together with the number of the regiment 
selected for its defence. Each gun bears the name of 
some company, as well as its weight and that of its 
shot. Near at hand are heaps of balls, ammunition 
wagons, and a magazine surrounded with a palisade. 
The barracks afford comfortable habitations for the 
soldiers ; for though none of the largest, they are all 
white-washed ; and even English, Scotch, and Irish 
women find it convenient in this climate to cook their 
husbands' rations in the open air. 

The Cameronian regiment have their place of 
parade on the King's Bastion, where they were re- 
viewed this evening at sun-set, and the band played 
several marches in fine style, to a motley collection of 
inhabitants and strangers, among whom was a tall man, 
in the full dress of an opulent Moorish merchant, a 
blue coat or cloak, much ornamented with cords and 
buttons, full Turkish trowsers, a white turban, and a 
long beard. 



GIBRALTAR. 17 

December 2. The two walls of the garrison are built 
from the margin of the water up the side of the steep 
hill, and include one third part of the rock. It is very 
difficult to communicate an idea of the strength of 
these walls by a description ; so many devices have 
been invented and carried into effect, for taking every 
possible advantage of the nature of the ground, and 
to supply by works of art, what nature had left incom- 
plete. The gates are very low and narrow, and the 
roads leading to them are made to perform various 
turnings, in order to expose them as much as possible 
to guns on the neighbouring walls. 

There are two ancient Moorish inscriptions over the 
southern gate of the garrison ; and we had hardly 
stepped without it, when we observed two rows of 
cannon looking down upon us from the high walls on 
the right and left, ready to sweep away not only our- 
selves, but the narrow bridge on which we stood. 
The shore is fortified from this place to Europa Point, 
about two miles, in the same manner as it is in the gar- 
rison; and pyramids of shot and shells are ready for 
use, heaped up to the height of twenty or thirty feet. 
Here is a large public garden, on the irregular ground 
at the base of the rock, which has been made by the 
German soldiers, after the design of the governor, 
divided by serpentine paths, and planted with roots, 
herbs, flowers, and trees. The walks are bordered 
with geraniums, green and in blossom, even at this 
season, and mixed with large rock-pears and many 
beautiful plants, some of which have long leaves 
like those of a tulip, and are as high as a man's 
head. Rustic seats, and arbours, are placed in those 
spots which command the finest prospects over the 
bay and across the Straits ; and on the whole, the 
Alameda, (for so the garden is called,) is a delightful 

3 



1 8 GIBRALTAR— EXCAVATIONS. 

place, and the more so, because from the bay, one 
could never have suspected its existence. 

December 3. About one third the way up the rock, 
and near the north end of it, stands a Moorish castle, 
of uncertain antiquity. It occupies the brow of a per- 
pendicular ledge, containing the excavated galleries, 
for which Gibraltar is so famous. We set out this 
morning, under the guidance of a Serjeant, to visit 
these galleries; and after a tedious walk through 
several streets, on the steep side of the rock, we found 
ourselves just below the castle, and at the gate of an 
old wall stretching down from it. The gate was very 
low, and of plain and solid architecture ; and the 
walls, which are Moorish, are formed of rough Stones, 
and large, thin bricks, in alternate layers, cemented 
with mortar. A subterranean passage led us under 
the wall of the garrison, and a few steps brought us 
to the beginning of the modern works : a dark pas- 
sage bored through the rocks, for a distance of 150 
feet. A little way beyond, is the entrance to Wyllys' 
Gallery — a powerful battery, capable of playing upon 
an enemy from an inaccessible height, through em- 
brasures or port holes cut in the face of the high, 
rocky precipice. The passage to the guns is a gal- 
lery, blasted with powder, three hundred feet long, 
and large enough for the passing of a wagon ; imper- 
fectly lighted by the embrasures ; and where nothing 
is to be seen, but heavy cannon, (mounted, according 
to custom, on iron carriages,) bolted magazines, and 
piles of shot. This passage terminates at a shaft like 
a well, down which we went, in total darkness, by a 
winding staircase, where our footsteps echoed like guns, 
above and below. CornwalHs' Hall, into which these 
steps led us, is a room about 40 feet across, supplied 
with a magazine, and three pieces of cannon. 



GIBKALTAR.— EXCAVATIONS. 



19 



Going up the dark stair-case again, and walking 
through a level passage, more than a hundred feet in 
length, we came to the brow of the precipice, which 
may be a hundred and fifty feet high, and whence a 
breastwork, and several forty-two pounders overlook 
the bay, and at a great distance below, the Moorish 
castle; while the peaks of the mountains above, seem- 
ed yet as distant as ever. There are also two or three 
mortars mounted here, of the diameter of 13 inches. 
There is one in the garrison, half an inch, or an inch 
larger; and that, a soldier told us, was taken from the 
Spanish, and was the largest ever made. 

Our guide now led us up still further; and at length, 
passing between broken rocks, some of which, jutted 
out overhead, and made a roof for the path, we sud- 
denly found ourselves on the very edge of a preci- 
pice, five or six hundred feet high; and leaning upon 
a slight railing, looked down upon the Neutral Ground, 
which stretched out in a sandy plain, on the left to the 
bay, and on the right, to the Mediterranean; while in 
front, it was bounded by hills and mountains, in the 
neighbouring parts of Spain. 

By a dark hole just at hand, we entered the Wind- 
sor Gallery, which is formed on the same plan as 
Wyllys'. It is, however, at a greater height — quite 
out of the reach of an enemy's artillery, and about 
500 feet in length. The guns too, are larger, and on 
account of the irregularity of the rocky surface, through 
which their embrasures are cut, the gallery is some- 
times quite dark, and so irregular, that it is difficult 
to proceed. We next reached the most admirable 
part of these magnificent works — St. George's Hall. 
Externally, it has the appearance of a round tower, 
against the side of the precipice, which the Rock of 
Gibraltar presents towards the Neutral Ground. 



20 GIBRALTAR.— EXCAVATIONS. 

This is partly the effect of art : but the skill of the 
engineer has been chiefly devoted to forming a beau- 
tiful circular apartment within, about 40 feet in dia- 
meter, and vaulted overhead. The floor is perfectly 
smooth, and the walls are pierced for six sixty-four 
pounders. The care taken to keep every thing in 
perfect order, together with the shaft cut through the 
top to let off the smoke, the smoothness of the walls, 
and the agreeable light admitted by the embrasures, 
are calculated to please the eye, after it has become 
accustomed to the roughness and gloom of the long 
galleries. Through the embrasure on the right, we 
looked along the perpendicular side of the rock, broken 
indeed, yet on the whole surprisingly smooth for a 
natural surface, and rising to a sublime height like the 
wall of a colossal city. The gun which stood beside 
us was so balanced, that the guide, with the strength 
of one hand, pointed it down almost perpendicularly; 
and such is the regularity of the precipice, that a 
ball fired from it, would have almost grazed it the 
whole distance, and yet have met with no obstruc- 
tion, till it fell upon the heap of loose stones, which 
has accumulated upon the plain below. While we 
were in quarantine, we had often noticed a bright' 
spot, like a window, near the line of junction be- 
tween the rock and Cornwallis' Hall, which now 
proved to have been occasioned by two opposite 
embrasures, through which we had seen the sky : for 
standing in a line between them, my eyes ranged over 
the quarantine anchorage, and soon singled out our 
vessel among a crowd of merchantmen below. On 
the Neutral Ground, are the remains of several old 
entrenchments, raised on various occasions ; and 
though they appeared like works of but little conse- 
quence at that distance, had been important batteries. 



GIBRALTAR— EXCAVATIONS. 21 

The Serjeant ^as familiar with many points of local 
history, and had numerous anecdotes at command. 
He pointed out particularly one of the breast-works, 
which the Spaniards erected, to annoy the Windsor 
Gallery : but it was found impossible for the guns to 
carry so high, and the only point within their range, 
was an insignificant battery at the water's edge, un- 
der the north end of the rock, far on our left. In the 
mean time, the tremendous artillery we had just 
been reviewing, had poured down such a shower 
of heavy shot, that the position was very speedily 
abandoned. 

A flight of steps, cut info the solid stone, brought us 
to the verge of the precipice, on a level with the top of 
Cornwallis' Hall. It is surmounted by a conical cap, 
through the centre of which is the chimney, which 
lets off the smoke of the guns. As we had become 
confused by the various objects we had seen, and the 
irregular manner in which we had gained this spot ; 
and besides, could see nothing above us but a single 
mass of rock, we supposed ourselves on the summit : 
but the guide desired us to follow him, and judge for 
ourselves whether we were yet at the top. We 
accordingly stepped upon a crag which projected near 
us — though I confess it was somewhat appalling to 
observe that the cleft between, over which we had 
to spring, was bottomed by the Neutral Ground. 
Looking up, we saw the North Pinnacle — a mass of 
grey rocks, almost over our heads, and about a thou- 
sand feet above us, which, so suddenly discovered, had 
a most singular effect upon our minds. We seemed 
to be shrinking to the size of pigmies, and felt at the 
same time, so strong a disposition to contemplate the 
vast magnitudes around us, that, for fear of forgetting 
ourselves, and falling from the shelf on which we stood. 



22 GIBRALTAR.— EXCAVATIONS. 

we lay down, and grasped with all our might a ring- 
bolt, the only thing we could lay hold on. For a mo- 
ment, the crag seemed to be shaken, and almost to 
dance in the air like a bird's nest in a high wind, as if 
separating itself from the precipice. 

The only exit from this place is through Cornwallis' 
Hall. We entered, and again found ourselves on the 
other side of the rock, which is a steep, sloping 
surface, covered with loose rocks of grey, compact 
lime-stone, spotted with a few shrubs and dwarf palms, 
a foot or two high; with the garrison and bay just 
below. We were bound to the middle peak of the 
rock, which is called the Signal Station ; and the path 
leading to it is one of those fine ones, which have 
been made at great expense, to facilitate the commu- 
nication between various points. It is more than 20 
feet wide, and runs in a slanting direction at such an 
angle, that guns, ammunition, and stores, may be raised 
with comparative facility. Among the sharp stones 
under our feet, we observed chrystalised carbonate of 
lime and arragonite ; but, what was worthy of more 
attention, was the singular appearance of many of the 
rocks. These were frequently perforated with holes, 
in a most unaccountable manner, sometimes as accu- 
rately as if bored for blasting ; sometimes irregularly, 
or tunnel-shaped, and that in places where they could 
not have been washed by torrents ; sometimes of such 
forms, and running in such directions, that water run- 
ning downwards could not have produced them.* 

* What had been or might be thought by learned men, of the ancient tra- 
dition, that the Straits of Gibraltar were originally closed up, 1 knew not, at 
the time when I made the remarks above ; nor did I intend ever to hazard 
what I then considered the only rational conjecture, that a strong current had 
once run over the rock, even, at that immense height. The stones certainly 
present an appearance like that frequently observed near rapids and cata- 
racts in America ; and many of them seem to have been broken, and turned 



GIBRALTAR.— EXCAVATIONS. 23 

When we approached the Signal Station, the ascent 
became very steep, and the road mounted by short 
zigzags, and was supported by fine walls. On the top 
of one of them, a pretty little boy had taken his 
station ; he was not more than three years old, and 
amused himself by throwing down stones at us, laugFi- 
ing with great glee at every discharge. We tried to 
persuade him to leave a place so dangerous, for he 
stood on the edge of a perpendicular wall 30 ket 
high, but in vain. Four men are stationed on the 
summit, under a corporal, who is father of the little 
boy. He listened to our description of his dangerous 
situation, and then remarking, that he was an only 
child, and a great rogue, yet had often played in that 
spot without meeting with any accident; invited us to 
his house, which is situated with the soldiers' bar- 
racks, on the summit of the rock, where is a small 
level about 50 feet across. Here we received a wel- 
come supply of refreshments, and were much pleased 
with the frank, military air of our host, and the neat- 
ness of every thing we saw. He lives here with his 
wife, child, and four soldiers, so that although in full 
view of crowded towns, and a port filled with vessels, 
he was almost entirely cut off from all correspondence 
with the rest of mankind, except such as he could 
carry on by a telegraph. He complained of the dif- 
ficulty of getting many of the conveniences of life 
raised to his dwelling. His rations are carried up 

over in the same manner. In other . places, the same phenomena were 
observed ; particularly, in a subterranean passage, just within the gate, open- 
ing upon the fortified line at Europa Point. 

A French geologist has lately published a work, in which he maintains the 
ancient account concerning the Straits ; and asserts, that the Spanish and 
Moorish coasts are of sufficient height to make it probable. He believes, 
that the Mediterranean and the Atlantic formerly had a communication, 
along tl^e base of the mountains in the northern parts of Spain. 



24 



GIBRALTAR.--EXCAVATIONS. 



every d^y, as well as a quantity of water; for he 
wisely remarked, that it would be foolish to attempt 
to sink a well there, and he suspected we were the 
first who had ever proposed it. The lightning, he 
said, sometimes gave them some alarm, and the thun- 
der seemed to burst in their ears. The wind, too, 
would often blow as if determined to clear the rock of 
them. He apologized for the want of chairs, as he 
offered us a seat on a sofa, by saying the difficulty of 
bringing them from the garrison would double their 
cost : but we had seen apartments arranged with 
less neatness and taste, though more accessible, and 
more exposed to the visits of strangers. The house- 
keeper, his wife, to whom this good order was at- 
tributable, appeared more than once at the kitchen- 
door, hastily reconnoitring our party, as if every 
stranger were of course a curiosity. 

The whole space occupied by the buildings and 
yard is so small, and so ill-defended from the pre- 
cipice on one side, that it seemed to us more like 
an eagle's nest than a dwelling place for men. But 
we had not yet reached the highest point of the 
rock : for the South Pinnacle rose before us like a 
sharp cone, above the line of the horizon, made by 
the sky and the Mediterranean. On the right, the 
side sloped with the most perfect regularity to the 
bay; and on the left descended with one tremen- 
dous precipice to the shore of the Mediterranean, 
and masses of rock, which had fallen down from 
above, lay at the base, half covered with water. 

On our way to the South Pinnacle, we passed a 
wall built by the Emperor Charles V. from the top 
of the rock half down to the bay. The present limit 
of the garrison, on this side, is further north ; and 
Charles' Wall, as it is still familiarly called, is quite 



i'^" 




n 



GIBKALTAR— EXCAVATIONS. 25 

useless. The level on the summit, which we reached 
after a long and toilsome walk, is even smaller than 
that gt the Signal Station; and is defended on two 
sides from a terrible precipice by a low wall, three 
or four feet high. Here are the ruins of a small 
round tower, and of barracks intended for half a 
dozen soldiers. These buildings were erected bj 
Governor O'Harra, with the vain expectation of being 
able to overlook the neighbouring Spanish moun- 
tains, and to open a telegraph communication with 
the bay of Cadiz. The mountains, however, seemed 
to straighten themselves at this attempt to gain an 
advantage on them ; so that, when the tower was 
completed, Cadiz was as much out of sight as ever ; 
yet sentries were stationed here regularly, until the 
lightning struck the tower, and killed the soldier at 
the door. The ruins have long been neglected, and 
serve no other good purpose, but to warn every body 
for twenty or thirty miles round, against precipitate 
determinations. The governor named his tower 
after St. George ; but the world call it O'Harra's Folly. 
Among the ruins we observed a broken marble 
slab which bore the height of that spot, ascertained 
by a careful measurement to be 1470 feet. Looking 
around and below, one feels as if suspended in the 
air, in the midst of a magnificent display of broad 
sheets of water and mountainous shores. The at- 
mosphere was so clear that the line of the horizon 
was quite distinct over the Mediterranean, and a very 
distant promontory on the north-east jutting out from 
the coast of Spain first interrupted its regularity. 
Turning slowly to the left, the eye rested in succes- 
sion on several similar points of land, till it began to 
distinguish hills and valleys, rocky shores, green 
fields, clusters of trees, and scattered houses, backed 

4 



2(3 GIBRALTAR.— EXCAVATIONS. 

by the noble ridge of the Grenada mountains. The 
land at length settles into a dead level ; and the sea, 
making two or three long, sweeping arches, into the 
Neutral Ground, follows a waving margin of white 
sand, till it washes the base of the rock and the frag- 
ments, at a dreadful distance below. 

On the opposite side of the Straits, the Rock of 
Ceuta, the twin-sister of Gibraltar, was seen partly 
hidden by surrounding hills and mountains, loaded 
with thick heaps of clouds ; and the recollection that 
art had converted this place also into a tremendous 
battery, increased the effect of the scene. The im- 
mense plain of water formed by the Mediterranean, 
which stretched off to the east till it met the sky, was 
spotted with a few white things like flakes of snow, 
or sea-birds ; but these proved, on closer examination, 
to be ships passing the Straits, and placed the con- 
cerns of men in a still more humble point of view. 

Towards the south, the rock terminates at Europa 
Point, which is completely fortified, and may be ex- 
mined with satisfaction from our elevated situation. 
Long ranges of artillery line the precipitous shores, 
zigzag roads, scattering barracks, huge insulated 
masses of rock, crowned with breastworks and can- 
non, diminished by the distance to marks and spots : 
all these added greatly to our preconceived ideas of 
the natural and artificial strength of Gibraltar. 

This upper part of the rock is inhabited by 
nothing but a few apes of an unusual size, which are 
currently reported to come from Africa by a subter- 
ranean passage : and, indeed, some shadow of proba- 
bility seems to be thrown upon the tradition by the 
foreign air of these animals, and the fact that St. 
Michael's Cave is near at hand, which is of so great 
a depth that its bottom has never been discovered. 



GIBRALTAR— EXCAVATIONS. 27 

In descending from the South Pinnacle we passed 
near the mouth of this cavern, and stopped to examine 
it. It is divided into several apartments, the largest 
of which is about eighty feet long, and sixty feet high, 
supplied with a number of broken columns, which 
present the most grotesque forms in the imperfect 
light. This is the first apartment into which we 
entered, and the only one light enough to be tra- 
versed without a torch. The others have columns 
of various sizes reaching from the floor to the roof, 
which are of a beautiful white, except where they 
have been smoked by the torches of guides; and one 
is often tempted to think he has discovered the sump- 
tuous palace of some subterranean king. Some parts 
present the gloomy majesty of a cathedral; and the 
eye often betrays its credulity, by attempting to trace 
the imagined plan of its natural ornaments, and the 
course of broken, confused lines, which spring from 
clustered columns and seem tending to pointed arches. 
In one place is a striking resemblance of a small 
chapel, where the gradual accretion of the walls has 
formed a niche with rude steps ; the fragments of rocks 
fallen from above resemble a broken statue, and the 
water, which is constantly trickling down, collects 
itself in a little clear fount. The way is frequently 
obstructed by broken rocks, and sometimes rendered 
dangerous by the neighbourhood of a yawning chasm, 
so deep that a pebble falls a long time before it is 
heard to strike the bottom. Several passages are very 
narrow ; and one, which leads into two or three apart- 
ments of considerable size, is so small as scarcely to 
admit a person even on his hands and knees. The 
columns are sometimes of great height and wonderful 
beauty. They have always an uneven surface, but yet 
preserve a degree of regularity which well nigh inclines 



28 GIBRALTAR. 

one to question their being shaped by nature. A fine 
hall through which we passed contains the most beau- 
tiful collection of columns in the whole cavern. Here 
the smoke of the torches has had little effect; so that 
every thing appears of a clear white, and possesses an 
air of unusual cheerfulness. A cluster of columns 
Standing within two or three feet of each other, were 
just before us, hanging like beautiful icicles from the 
roof, and in the midst of them was one distinguished by 
its regularity and richness above every other. It was 
scarcely three feet in diameter, fluted and filleted all 
over, and broken at short intervals, by projections, 
which were rounded on all sides like the edge of a 
mushroom. Looking up, it stretched 50 or 60 feet to 
the roof, with a perpendicular shaft ; and a broad beam 
of light bursting through a cleft in the rock, and stream- 
ing through the dusty air, shone full upon its white, 
irregular surface, and upon several other columns 
around it. The guides then spread a sudden illumi- 
nation through the cavern, by moving their torches 
above their heads ; screaming at the same time, to set 
the echoes at work. Distant rows of columns began 
to appear on all sides ; and sounds, strangely altered, 
from those of the human voice, rang through halls and 
passages still beyond. 

Leaving the cavern, I made the guide clamber up 
with me to the crevice through which the light was 
admitted into the upper part of this hall from without, 
and there the columns appeared still more beautiful, 
being nearly as white and pure as those of the famous: 
Kentucky cavern, which probably surpasses all others 
in the world. 

December 4. The population of Gibraltar is a most 
heterogeneous mass, consisting principally of Genoese, 
Rnglish, and Spanish, or their descendants. The pre- 



GIBRALTAR. 29 

sent number of officers, soldiers, and other men be- 
longing to the army, is about five thousand; or, to 
speak with precision, four thousand seven hundred 
and fifty three. Many English, Irish, and Scotch 
should be added, vi^ho have accompanied their mili- 
tary relations and friends to this place of security, 
rather than post of danger. Beside these, there are 
many individuals from the various nations on the Medi- 
terranean, particularly from the neighbouring coast of 
Africa. A great number of Jews are always seen 
in the streets, and one would think they must form a 
large part of the population ; but they are said to 
amount to no more than seven hundred in all. They 
supply the place with shop-keepers and porters, and 
still retain the black scull-cap, the full trowsers cut 
off at the knee, and the striking appearance of wretch- 
ed poverty which they brought with them from Algiers. 
Some of them, however, who are the worst clad, are 
among the richest men in Gibraltar, and, on the Jewish 
Sabbath, repair to the synagogue, arrayed in the splen- 
did flowing robes which were worn in Jerusalem in 
the times of the prophets. From their scrupulous 
observance of the Mosaic Law in this respect, they 
are transformed in appearance, once a week, from 
beggars to creditable representatives of the house of 
Israel, and many of them to priests and rabbis of a 
most reverend aspect. Business is almost entirely at 
a stand on Saturday, for there are few retailers in the 
garrison who are not Jews. 

The natives of this place are all known by the 
same general appellation, which bears no reference 
at all to the country of their parents : every one born 
in Gibraltar is of course called a " Rock Scorpion." 
And truly their residences are often better calculated 
for the nature and habits of reptiles, than for those of 



30 



GIBRALTAR. 



men. The ground included by the walls of the gar- 
rison is so broken and steep, that many of the streets 
are, strictly speaking, great stair-cases; and (|thers 
are supported so high in the air by stone wallil, that 
you may almost look down the chimnies of the nearest 
houses. In the gardens, many trees and plants are 
collected, which in our own country are known only 
as rare and curious exotics. Here too, rocks are 
observed, which have been excavated, so as to form 
the cellars and the lower apartments of handsome 
houses, the upper stories being supplied by stone and 
mortar, while the weather-beaten surface, and the 
broad leaves of old palm-trees extending over the 
garden walls, give an appearance of respectable 
antiquity to the residence of many an ancient family 
of " Rock Scorpions," whose successive generations 
have witnessed, from their singular and elevated situa- 
tion, the various warlike operations that have been 
directed against this place of strength. 

The inhabitants of Gibraltar, as I have before men- 
tioned, preserve, with great tenacity, the costumes of 
their several countries; so that a walk through the 
place is like reading a chapter of manners and customs. 
Many ladies appear in the street wrapped in dresses of 
jet black, after the Spanish fashion ; while others of the 
inferior classes wear hooded scarlet cloaks, trimmed 
and edged with black. Their faces are all formed 
after one model, with round, sallow cheeks, tolerable 
features, and black eyes ; and they are rarely seen 
without their fans, which they keep continually in 
motion, and which they are said to use in conversa- 
tion like telegraphs. Long blue Spanish cloaks are 
frequently seen muffling tall men, who, whether they 
be wealthy merchants, or mere idlers, move with a 
striking air of conscious importance. The right 



GIBRALTAR. 31 

corner of the cloak, is thrown over the left shoulder, 
and the loose drapery lies in the graceful folds of the 
Roman toga, and is drawn up till it hides the face, and 
shows nothing but a pair of mysterious black eyes, 
looking suspiciously out upon the world. 

Neither do the inhabitants confine their national 
partiality to dress alone : they let it follow them home ; 
and give it a place at the table and the hearth. In 
one house, children are brought up on Neapolitan 
maccaroni ; in the next, the cry is for " bannocks of 
bear-meal, bannocks of barley !" Here, you may hear 
unleavened bread called for in Hebrew, during the 
passover; and at the opposite door, the Irish name 
for potatoes every day in the year. 

The number of Genoese inhabitants is so great, 
that it may be proper to give a hasty sketch of an inn, 
kept by one of that nation, where 1 am at present 
lodged, particularly, as both reader and author are 
bound up the Mediterranean, or, as it is here fami- 
liarly expressed, " up aloft." This hotel is consi- 
dered the best in the whole garrison, except two or 
three, but is not the resort of Americans or English- 
men. The entrance from the street is through a gate- 
way, leading to a court surrounded on all sides by the 
house, which is necessarily built in the form of a hol- 
low square. A piazza, which runs round the second 
story, affords a communication between the stairs and 
the dining rooms, sleeping chambers, &lc. On the 
ground-floor, several doors open on all sides, into the 
tap-room, the kitchen, the host's private parlour, and 
the stables. The dinner, in effecting its way from the 
fire to table, has therefore to make a passage of con- 
siderable length, beside the ascent of a stair-case. 
But a precursor never fails to anticipate its arrival by 
an hour or more, in the fumes of strong small fish, fried 



32 GIBRALTAR.— SAN ROQUE. 

in oil, and the penetrating odour of garlic. Above 
the outer gate is a sign, which tells the world in 
Spanish and English, that the host keeps a large num- 
ber of horses, donkies, and mules to let to such as 
are ambitious of a gallop to San Roque, or a ride 
through the " excavations." These animals are ac- 
commodated with racks and mangers in an apartment 
adjoining that in which the females of the house (who 
bear the round, foreign features of Maritorness,) 
amuse themselves all day w^ith a discordant spinnet, 
and their incessant Genoese jargon. The weather is 
so warm even at this season, that none of the indwel- 
lers sit with closed doors ; and the strangest composi- 
tion is produced by the squealing, stamping and bray- 
ing from the stable, the steams of the kitchen, and the 
mirth and music from the adjacent parlour. 

December 5. San Roque is a small Spanish town, 
situated about ^\e miles from this place, where the 
governor and several English merchants have coun- 
try houses. A fine road has lately been opened 
thither, by the permission of the king ; and to make 
a short excursion into the country from the garrison, 
never means any thing more than going to San Roque. 
We took a walk there to-day, and in leaving Gibral- 
tar passed through the northern gates at the base of 
the rock, but little raised above the water level. 
The various artificial works which command indispu- 
tably this passage are truly admirable. The path 
crosses several draw-bridges, and coasts along broad 
ditches, whose opposite sides present only batteries of 
heavy cannon, planned and erected in times of peace 
and leisure, and kept in as perfect order as if an 
attack were expected to-morrow. The northern wall 
of the garrison overlooks a great part of the road, 
with its battlements and embrasures ; while the loop- 



GIBRALTAR.— SAN ROQUE. ^ 33 

holes, cut here and there through the excavated rocks, 
which form the substruction of its heavy towers, re- 
mind one of the fatal skill of sharp-shooters, for whom 
they were doubtless intended. A precipice rises on 
the right several hundred feet, where the Wyllys' Gal- 
lery was sleeping as it were with her eyes open ; and 
Cornwallis' Hall stood advanced from the rock like a 
watch-tower, looking down with suspicion on the neigh- 
bouring coast and country. Every turn in our path 
brought to light some new battery ; so that when we 
were just ready to congratulate ourselves on losing 
sight of a long row of guns, a double tier stood right 
before us ; and soon afterwards we came suddenly in 
sight of three rows of cannon, which yawned so wide in 
our faces, that we looked directly down their throats. 

When these were all passed, we came upon the 
Neutral Ground, which is sandy and quite barren, 
except a tract of a few acres, where the present 
governor has made a garden for the supply of the 
garrison. This spot has been manured by the sweep- 
ings of the streets, reduced to ashes, and produces a 
variety of herbs for the market. Here are the houses 
of the gardeners, which, with the large wheels for 
raising water turned by mules, the unknown vege- 
tables cultivated in some of the fields, and the inclo- 
sures made of woven canes, or of a shrub with im- 
mense leaves shaped like those of a tulip, offered 
many picturesque little scenes. 

The Spanish lines are marked by ditches, batteries, 
and low, white barracks; where we found ourselves 
suddenly among officers and soldiers wearing the uni- 
form, and bearing the arms of his most Catholic Majes- 
ty. It was very gratifying to us, who are likely to have 
very little time for seeing the neighbouring country, 
that the face of things, even at this short distance from 

5 



34 GIBRALTAR.— SAN ROQUE. 

Gibraltar, should assume an expression so decidedly 
Spanish. A few houses clustered together in this 
spot were built of stone, and inhabited by people who 
could not understand a single word of English. We 
stopped at a passport-office, whose master we found 
had public duties to perform of more than one de- 
scription ; for his walls were ornamented with razors, 
cows' tails, teeth fastened in strings, and hanging in 
festoons. In one corner an ancient basket-hilted 
sword was capped with a barber's basin, as if to 
convince us that we were actually in the land of Don 
Quixote and the peerless Dulcinea. 

Two miles beyond, the road lay on the beach round 
the head of Gibraltar Bay, from which the governor's 
road led us back across the uncultivated hills and 
valleys we had often overlooked befpre. There are 
indeed, a few clusters of houses and patches of tilled 
ground ; but the inhabitants wear all the marks of 
extreme poverty, and the soil is almost entirely neg- 
lected, spreading in unenclosed pastures, and culti- 
vated in small fields here and there. Several gardens 
were fenced with rock-pears, which, though of so 
diminutive a size in our own country, grow here to the 
height of six or eight feet, and produce well-flavoured 
fruit. This vegetable is even cultivated in fields 
devoted expressly to the purpose ; where it is planted 
in hills like Indian corn. 

Three small wooden crosses, standing by the road 
side, denoted the places where as many murders had 
been committed ; and a small tomb bore an inscrip- 
tion, purporting that a Spanish officer had fallen on 
that spot, while defending himself against seven 
Frenchmen. 

We met a few Englishmen riding towards the gar- 
rison on imported horses, and ladies mounted on mules 



GIBRALTAR.— SAN ROQUE. 35 

and dowkies, that were covered with gay trappings, 
and followed by men on foot with long sticks. The 
peasants who passed us never failed to take off their 
hats, and to cry in a drawling tone, and with no little 
formality : " Sa-lud ! Sa-lud !" 

Among the clusters of hovels on the road, were a 
number of inns, which fully justified the discouraging 
representations we had heard, of the wretched accom- 
modations prepared for travellers in Spain. With 
thesolitary exception of the short road we were travel- 
ling, there is not a single path for many miles around 
passable in carriages, and the inns are correspondent 
with the expectations of the travellers, who are almost 
exclusively muleteers. The barest necessaries of life: 
a little wretched food and wine, the shelter of a roof, 
and a sack of straw, or perhaps the ground-floor for 
a couch, can possess few attractions in the worst cir- 
cumstances, and would never be preferred to the open 
air on such a fine day as this. At the inns which we 
passed, therefore, travellers were seen lying on the 
ground, under the southern walls, wrapped in their 
blue cloaks, with their horses tied to posts near at 
hand : for there appeared to be no stables for their 
reception. 

The town of San Roque stands on a steep round 
hill ; and, on entering it, is found to consist of narrow 
streets, and old fashioned houses with low stories. 
Here are the high, small, latticed windows, the bal- 
conies of gingerbread-work, and the general air of 
antiquity, which correspond with the backgrounds of 
many Spanish prints we were familiar with at home. 
An old woman and two or three beggar children con- 
ducted us with great reverence into the church, which 
occupies the summit of the hill, and were surprised 
that we did not kneel before the statues and pictures 



36 GIBRALTAR.— SAN ROQUE. 

in the various chapels. There was "Holy Mary 
in tears," and " Christ on the cross," represented in 
the most incorrect manner, and with most miserable 
taste. 

On our way home we stopped a moment at a hut to 
quench our thirst. Like several others we had ob- 
served, it was built entirely of reeds, so twisted and 
woven as to form walls quite impervious to the weather. 
A sign offered to all passers-by, and to ourselves 
among the rest, such things as a house of this kind 
might be expected to afford — bread and cheese, and 
two or thee sorts of wine of inferior quality. A low 
partition cut off the sleeping room, while that which 
we entered, and the remainderof the whole house, had 
a ground floor, and a recess devoted to casks and cups. 
The inhabitants, an honest but wrinkled pair, were 
then occupied at dinner, which it seems is fashion- 
able here about one o'clock. The meal consisted 
of bread and a few small fishes, cooked over a pian of 
coals for want of a fire-place. As soon however as 
we could make them comprehend, with our scanty 
store of Spanish, that we wanted a draught of wine, 
they set out a light wooden table and a bench, be- 
tween the two doors, in such a manner that the wind 
blew on us fresh from the bay ; and placed before us a 
bottle of Malaga wine. When the old woman had 
dined, she took a seat near us with some coarse needle- 
work in her hands, and with an intention half hospita- 
ble, half curious, began to remark on the pleasantness 
of the weather. Several fowls, and a large black pig 
without a single hair upon his skin, were called in 
appropriate chuckles, and a dish of Indian corn was 
furnished them : and we looked around us with plea- 
sure, on the few and simple objects which supplied 
these honest old folks with comfort and content. The 



VOYAGE UP THE MEDITERRANE AIN . 37 

larder and the wardrobe occupied but little space, 
and the few rough tools and utensils they possessed, 
found ready lodging between the reeds of which the 
walls were made; and there we observed a few bits 
of harmless finery, and the rosary and crucifix with 
which the good woman decorates herself, for a walk 
to the church of San Roque on Sabbath and holy-day. 

The scenery under our eyes excited our admiration ; 
for the door, humble as it was, commanded an unin- 
terrupted view of the rock and bay of Gibraltar, the 
Straits, and the opposite African coast; and every 
vessel in the harbour and every foreign ship sailing 
from one ocean to the other, aflforded its portion of 
pleasure to the tranquil minds of this aged Andalu- 
sian pair, who had looked out upon them, with little 
knowledge of their cargoes or their destination, for 
half a century. " Yet," said the good woman with 
a melancholy look, " the place will never again be as 
pleasant as 1 have seen it. I have had seven little 
children who have played around me on this floor: 
but the last of them died many years ago, leaving our 
home desolate, and every thing gloomy on which we 
used to look." 

At sea. — December 13. Yesterday afternoon we set 
sail with a very light breeze and pleasant weather, 
and our anchor was got up at the bows, to be thrown 
only on the coast of Italy. This was a delightful con- 
sideration; and it was natural to look forward with 
pleasure towards that attractive country, so soon to 
lie in our po^ession, with all its interesting sites and 
venerable antiquities. An old Italian had engaged a 
birth on board our vessel, but we presumed some acci- 
dent had happened to detain him, for though his 
trunk and bales were on board, and we had waited 
for him a length of time, he did not make his appear- 



38 VOYAGE UP THE MEDITERRANEAN. 

ance. All the boats coming from the shore were nar- 
rowly examined through our glass; but thej either 
belonged to some vessel in the harbour, or were 
bound with fishermen or passengers to Algesiras, and 
in that case frequently passed us with merry jests at 
our foreign appearance, which we but half under- 
stood, and therefore endured very well. In the even- 
ing, the Rock of Gibraltar appeared like a sharp, 
conical mountain, being seen directly endwise. 

At eight o'clock, when it was quite dark, and we 
had reached the mouth of the bay, we were hailed by 
a boat, that in a few minutes came alongside, with two 
Genoese rowers and our fellow passenger. He imme- 
diately began to give orders of where to go and what 
to do, of which however we comprehended but little, 
as he spoke Italian ; but there was a life and energy 
in his voice and manner, which promised to survive the 
excitement of the occasion. His hair was white with 
age, as was evident when he took off his hat, in spite 
of the darkness of the evening, and this circumstance 
rendered his vociferous activity still more surprising. 
He was soon clambering up the side — a short old man 
in a blue coat, tight flesh-coloured pantaloons, and 
a scarlet sash tied about his waist in the Spanish 
fashion. As soon as he touched the deck, he seemed 
quite wild with joy ; caught the captain in his arms, 
embraced him like a brother, and talked his unintel- 
ligible language so fast, that he set us all laughing 
in spite of ourselves. Two or three Italian words, 
which I mustered not without much d^Hculty, made 
him quit his hold, spring upon me with extravagant 
joy, and exclaim in Spanish and Italian, " Ah my dear 
friend, how delighted I am to see you ! What beauti- 
ful weather ! What a lovely night !" Then skipping 
away as suddenly, he went to tell the boatmen to ban* 



VOYAGE UP THE MEDITERRANEAN. 39 

die every thing with great care, particularly the "chi- 
corriditos." These last proved to be nothing more 
nor less than six green parrots, chained to their 
perches, which with three large trunks were handed 
down below. 

When the boatmen came on board to receive their 
wages, a most ludicrous scene took place. The 
demand was two dollars, which the Italian pronoun- 
ced in a loud voice to be exorbitant. They per- 
sisted ; — and both parties were instantly in a transport 
of rage. The old man threw himself into a thousand 
nervous attitudes, each of which shook him all over; 
and talked so vehemently between, that his voice 
failed him several limes, and he stopped on the verge 
of suffocation. Two dollars, the boatmen protested, 
was the least they could take, and with much throw- 
ing about of the arms and clenching of the fists, called 
the saints to witness that they were not extortionate. 
The naming of the saints however, even St. Antonio, 
who was repeatedly called, had no effect on the 
obstinate old man, who showed, besides, a wonder- 
ful dauntlessness ; while to us, the exasperated boat- 
men seemed ready to slay him outright. At length 
they turned to go to their boat : but, suddenly 
recollecting themselves, approached the old man 
with extended hands, and with every appearance of 
cordiality wished him much happiness and a good 
voyage. So instantaneous a change from hot to cold 
was never seen in our climate ; — now they had smiling 
faces, and reduced their loud voices to the unimpas- 
sioned tones of common conversation. The sight of 
a solitary dollar, which the old man tendered them in 
a very amicable manner, was like another shock of 
electricity, and a new storm ensued. The three 
voices were again mingled in deafening and bewilder-^ 



40 VOYAGE UP THE MEDITERRANEAN. 

ing confusion ; and through the stillness of the night, 
the sound might perhaps have been heard even in 
Gibraltar. The issue was that the full price was 
paid ; and the boatmen left us with many blessings 
invoked on our voyage. 

Our new companion now began, in high glee, to 
give us the reasons of his leaving Gibraltar so late. 
He had got several luxuries prepared for his voyage, 
and when just ready to come off, recollected that they 
were at a friend's house on shore. But he was de- 
tained until the time of shutting the gates of the gar- 
rison, and then forced to fly from the embraces of his 
friends, and rushed through the crowd with the utmost 
precipitation, leaving behind him a quantity of fresh 
bread, two casks of wine, and a bottle of excellent 
snuff This account was attended throughout with 
appropriate signs, by which alone we understood 
him, and fortunately he expressed himself in that way 
with the utmost facility. He ran about the quarter- 
deck, screaming and pretending to pull about the 
Rock Scorpions without ceremony : — he was the last 
through the wicket-door at the gate; — he sprung 
headlong from the mole into the boat. But he stop- 
ped ; — the loss of his wine, his bread and his snuff 
came across his memory. " Oh what a misfortune !" 
said he, " nothing to drink but water, no snuff," 
except a little he showed us in his box ; and he threw 
up his eyes, clasped his hands, shut his lips closely 
together, and uttered a sigh and a groan in one breath 
— an explosion of grief peculiar to himself. Then 
shrugging his shoulders and assuming an air of great 
resignation, he calmly whispered, " ma patienza !" 
[but patience !] 

A new thought now struck him, and he began to 
search for something on deck. It was dark, and as 



VOYAGE TO NAPLES. 41 

he felt every where, under the long-boat, and among 
the water-casks which are stowed near it ; he talked 
to himself, but with such volubility that we could not 
separate from the mass a single intelligible word. 
He roared out to the boat, and received an answer 
which did not satisfy him : he besought them to return, 
but they replied coldly and proceeded. This was 
the perfection of his distress. He jumped, clapped 
his hands, and stamped ; speaking exceedingly fast, 
and ejaculating from time to time in a voice that 
made our ears ring. He grew calm again however in 
a moment, and having said, " patienza !" told us that 
two of his parrots were missing. " Dos chiquitos !" 
he said in Spanish, [two pretty little creatures!] and 
then added in Italian, " Ah ! ch'erano belli !" [how 
beautiful they were !] and hiding his face in his hands, 
seemed once more overcome by his loss. 

At sea. — December 1 6. We suppose ourselves about 
ninety miles south-west of the island of Sardinia, and 
are sailing along briskly with a fine wind, and warm, 
delightful weather. After leaving Gibraltar, the 
mountainous coast of Spain and Africa long remained 
in sight, until the increasing breadth of the Medi- 
terranean gradually removed them to too great a dis- 
tance. 

Mattia, our singular companion, is a Neapolitan ; 
and, according to his own account, has formerly made 
no small display in Naples with a splendid equipage, 
and a gay and dissipated life. He is not inclined to 
particularise on the cause of a change of fortune; but 
hints at the treachery of friends whom he despises, and 
declares that he is perfectly contented to wander 
about the Mediterranean from port to port, as he has 
done for many years, carrying on a little trade, no- 
ticing the peculiarities of different countries, and visit- 

6 



42 VOYAGE TO NAPLES. 

ing the few friends he has left in the world. His dis- 
position is very amiable and obliging, and his liveli- 
ness and mirth are inexhaustible, notwithstanding his 
age, which is full sixty. He will sit down and kiss 
and talk to his favourite parrot half an hour together, 
feed his fowls, or kill and dress them, to the tune of a 
Spanish fandango ; roar out " viva !" to every one 
that sneezes, praise the brig for a " bel barco ;'^ 
call Saint Antonio our " buon amico" for giving us 
a favourable w^ind ; and sigh with a look of meek- 
ness when he remembers the luxuries he has left at 
Gibraltar — " two casks of wine, two thousand segars, 
and a bottle of tobacco-for-the-nose : — ah, patienza !'' 
He chose to bring his own provisions with him : and 
retiring to a corner of the cabin three or four times a 
day, and ranging his parrots about him, he lays aside his 
red woollen cap, and prepares for a meal. A Gibraltar 
onion, three or four inches in diameter, with a dry bis- 
cuit, and a bit of bacon, or, on Friday, a little salt fish, 
is placed on a clean handkerchief, spread across his 
knees ; a knife is produced from a pocket where he 
keeps his pipe ; and, all being ready, he composes his 
laughing face into an expression of profound gravity, 
whispers a short prayer^ crosses himself, and begins 
to eat in perfect silence. His manners have a natural 
polish, somewhat surprising in a man of his dress and 

condition ; and Captain is always treated with 

the utmost deference and respect, " because he is a 
thorough pilot, and commands so fine a vessel." The 
whimsical old man feeds the parrots from his own 
scanty store ; and if the captain is present, interdicts 
all the social prattle in which they are fond of indul- 
ging, and holds their mouths, if they attempt to raise 
their voices. He delights in rummaging over the nu- 
merous articles with which his trunks are crowded : 



VOYAGE TO NAPLE>S. 43 

suits of clothes of various fashions ; sets of curtains, 
and table furniture; pictures; provisions; presents and 
curiosities. "This walking-stick," said he, "with a 
hollow to conceal money, was given me in Malaga — 
with this sword [ killed two robbers who attacked me 
on the road to Rome." He has been at Tunis, and 
will sit down on deck, with his legs crossed under 
him, to show us how the Turks smoke and drink cof- 
fee. Besides, he abounds in anecdotes which he re- 
counts to us with great force and animation; more 
than half by the use of signs, and never fails to excite 
our interest by a tale of distress, or to make us laugh 
at some ludicrous narrative, clothed and quickened 
by his own wit. 

Off Sardinia. — December 17. The land was disco- 
vered about noon ; and at sun-set we had approached 
near enough to render its mountainous coasts a feature, 
and a striking one, in the monotonous scenery of a mari- 
time view, though not so near as to discover any thing 
smaller than cliffs and hills. Two islands, San Pietro 
and Anticche, lay in front, and behind them rose a tall 
mountain on the main land of Sardinia. This sight 
was sufficient to remind Signor Mattia of what he had 
seen on shore there during some former voyages ; and 
we have been much amused at the expense of the 
Sardinians, whom he describes as half savages, living 
among the mountains, shooting apples off the heads 
of their children, riding horses without saddle or bri- 
dle, and racing up and down "like infernals." 

In the height of his good nature, our fantastical 
companion has already began to form plans for our 
comfort and amusement after our arrival. His friends 
(for he has still a few very good friends in Naples) 
will supply him with an abundance of provisions, fruit, 
and excellent wine ; the king, who is also his friend, 



44 VOYAGE TO NAPLES 

will abridge our quarantine. He longs to show us the 
street of Toledo during the masquerade, and the thea- 
tre of San Carlo, which he admires more than any thing 
else in the world. He professes to have a garden on 
the side of Mount Vesuvius, every production of 
which shall be at our service; and he has already 
given us a sketch in the language of signs, of the 
ludicrous procession we shall form, bestriding mules 
and donkies, on the way to his cottage, and to the 
summit of Vesuvius, whither he intends to conduct 
us at night with torches. Beside all this, he insists on 
accompanying us to Rome, though he had before no 
intention of going there, with the professed design of 
securing us against the difficulties and dangers which 
always await travellers on that road. His country- 
men he pronounces "great thieves," and every thing 
faithless, with as little hesitation and reserve, as if 
they were all Sardinians ; and therefore urges us to 
accept of his escort, lest we should be cheated, rob- 
bed, and perhaps murdered — which would be a shock- 
ing thing to our friends, and very discreditable to Italy, 
as we have been attracted from a world he had never 
heard of by the fame of his country. The habitual 
ease with which the old man converses, his vivacity, 
quickness of apprehension, ingenuity, shrewdness, and 
acquaintance with the world, (that is, with such a por- 
tion of it as he has had an opportunity to observe,) 
form the most striking contract with his low stature, 
and his unpretending dress. His beard is white, and 
is suffered to grow under a vow, or at least a promise, 
never to cut it till we shall be allowed to land at 
Naples. 

At Sea. — December 20. While approaching a new 
country, one finds his attention fixed, and his curiosity 
continually abroad, to catch the earliest intimation of 



VOYAGE TO NAPLES. 4/j 

its vicinity ; and is ready to trace some characteristic 
peculiarity in the first object he meets. We have 
been delayed by light or adverse winds for several 
days, sometimes sailing all day, and returning at night 
almost to the spot from which we had started in the 
morning, and frequently lying becalmed for hours to- 
gether. Some amends, however, are made even by 
the clouds themselves, which seem to dehght in pre- 
senting the most rich and beautiful colours at sun-rise 
and sun-set. They cluster about the eastern parts of 
the sky before the dawn, there remaining to reflect 
the first light of day ; and then, as it increases and 
changes, each seizing a beam of its favourite hue, and 
arraying itself as with a gay and changeable robe, 
waits till the sun shines out fair and bright, in the 
midst of a profusion of blue, purple, rose, orange, and 
gold. The evenings, too, have been no less delight- 
ful; and we are half inclined to allow the Italian sky 
the superiority it claims over the whole world, though 
the captain declares, that, in forty years' sailing, he 
has never seen a coast where the stars are so nume- 
rous and so brilliant as that of America in a cold win- 
ter night. The eye of so experienced a navigator, 
long accustomed to observations on the sky in various 
climates, including several parts of the Mediterranean, 
is certainly worthy of no small confidence : yet, the 
transparency of the atmosphere, and the rich colours 
of the sky, I certainly have never seen surpassed. 
Besides, we are happy to find that nature, accord- 
ing to her usual taste, here delights more in delicate, 
than in gaudy hues, and in rich combinations, rather 
than strong and glaring contrasts. This season of 
the year is usually the most unfavourable, as the win- 
ter in this southern part of Italy is little better than a 
succession of cloudy, rainy, cold, and misty weather: 



46 VOYAGE TO NAPLES. 

and the unexpected calms by which we have been 
detained for several days, as well the probability of 
dangerous winds, have affected the spirits of some on 
board, particularly Signor Mattia. The guardain 
saint of all sailors had showed him a particular fa- 
vour, in carrying the vessel from Gibraltar to Sardinia 
in four days; so that, like most other men in pros- 
perity, he had calculated on many successive bless- 
ings. He feels himself bound, however, to conceal 
his disappointment, lest the holy saints should lose 
credit in the eyes of us unbelievers; and on hearing 
a remark yesterday, that St. Antonio was no longer 
our friend, he insisted that we were all his favourites 
as much as ever, but that he doubtless had other 
friends who were bound westward, and the winds had 
changed on their account. Then taking up the tone of 
an instructer, which better suited his gray hairs than 
the accustomed levity of his conversation, he added : 
" My dear friends, you must not expect uninterrupted 
prosperity: this is not the world for perfect happiness. 
La ros' ha bel odore, ma tenga una spina che vi 
spunge." [The rose has an agreeable odour, but it 
has also a thorn to wound you.] "The friendship of 
a saint," remarked one of the party, " is at present of 
very little value. We might have head winds and calms 
if left to ourselves. There is no need of St. Antonio." 
" There is need of patience," he replied a little tartly, 
and turned on his heel. 

This morning I stood beside him, looking towards 
the east where the sun was rising among broken 
clouds, tinging their edges with dazzling light, and 
shooting up broad red beams through every aperturCj 
while the waves around us, and every cloud in the 
distant parts of the sky, like ripening fruit, presented 
a blushing cheek to the sun. " What a beautiful sight !'^ 



VOYAGE TO NAPLES. 47 

exclaimed the old man ; " such a sun, such a sky at 
this season, when it is usually so cloudy and cold ! 
Thanks to St. Antonio, we have still delightful wea- 
ther; and, by his blessing, we are now so near our 
port, that seventy hours of the very best winds would 
bring to our destined anchorage." This was so inge- 
nious, and spoken with so much sincerity, that I had 
no heart to tell him the saint's conduct, in deserting us 
at this moment, seemed so much more inexplicable ; 
and with happy resignation he repeated^ i^ JUa ros' ha 
belodore." .:h>#^'' 

Dec. 21. One 6^ clock in the morning. We discovered 
a strange light before us a little while ago, which is 
remarkably red, and keeps disappearing and shining 
again, but too irregularly for a light-house. Our nau- 
tical books are entirely silent on the subject; and the 
captain was certain there was no beacon hereabouts, 
when he was on this coast fourteen years ago. It is 
evidently at a great distance, yet its size is such as dis- 
countenances the opinion that it is artificial ; and its 
shape is no less singular, being long and narrow. It 
remains bright for a moment, and then, gradually fa- 
ding, soon becomes quite invisible : it reappears with 
a flash, like a transparent column illuminated by a sud- 
den fire. " Vesuvius !" cried a man in the shrouds ; 
and every one on the suggestion was convinced that 
the mountain was in a state of eruption, and we are 
happy at the prospect of witnessing the burning of a 
volcano. 

Dec. 22. Mattia agrees with us in our opinion of 
the light, but seems to regard it as a matter of no con- 
sequence, except as it proves our vicinity to Naples — 
a city he speaks of in the most unbounded praise. 
Slight eruptions of Vesuvius occur every year; and he 
declares that the lava now flowing down its sides will 



4B VOYAGE TO NAPLES. 

undoubtedly become cool and stop, long before it 
reaches the villages at its foot, or even the vineyards 
above them. 

We found, to our disappointment, that the land we 
had first discovered was not Ischia, but Ponza, one of 
a cluster of islands off Gaeta, and about sixty miles 
north of the bay of Naples. The weather this morn- 
ing is clear but cold ; and we are yet surrounded by 
the islands, which rise out of the water like walls, 
with high and precipitous sides of brown, yellow, and 
whitish rocks, presenting a dreary and discouraging 
view of coasts apparently inaccessible. They are sup- 
plied with a few inlets and harbours, which, from the 
nature of the ground, are usually hidden from the sea, 
so that a stranger would never suspect their existence. 

Mattia's usual liveliness and humour, however, are 
able to throw an interest over so dreary a region as 
this. He tells us of a thousand little vallies and re- 
cesses among the mountains, where a rich soil has 
been deposited by the torrents, and where people live 
sheltered from the storms, among groves of olives green 
throughout the year. Their employments and their 
amusements too, he describes with surprising ease 
and distinctness ; so that he seems no less an agricul- 
turist and a fisherman than a sailor. After a most ani- 
mated imitation of the mode in which they catch eels 
with long spears, one of the crew burst into a hearty 
fit of laughter, and declared it was "just exactly so as 
he'd caught 'em himself in Connecticut river." 

Dec, 23. One o'clock in the morning. It has been so 
calm during the night, that we have hardly moved ; 
indeed we have had so little wind for a day or two 
that we are almost in the very place we left yesterday 
morning. Vesuvius occasionally appears, whenever the 
intervening land is not too elevated; and yesterday 



VOYAGE TO NAPLES, 49 

afternoon we could clearly distinguish its conical form, 
though at the distance of forty-five miles. By a calcu- 
lation, it proves to have been full sixty miles off when 
the light was first observed. A few minutes ago I came 
on deck, and looking towards the volcano, which was 
shining brilliantly, a broader light appeared just be- 
low, and though much paler than the other, preserved 
the same appearance without change. On searching 
for the old man I found him sitting beside the caboose, 
with his pipe in his mouth, and very much agitated. 
His tone too was melancholy, in a degree I never had 
heard from him. " Ah," cried he, '' how unfortunate 
they are at Vesuvius ! My dear friend there is an 
eruption of the mountain !" Then taking the pipe from 
his mouth, he stepped out on deck, and pointing to- 
wards the light, said in a voice of unaffected sorrow, 
" Ah, what a fire ! My dear friend, Torre del Greco 
has been destroyed nine times already, and I fear it is 
now to be overwhelmed again." " But is your garden 
out of danger ?" " That will depend," he replied, " on 
the course it takes. If it runs in the old channel it is 
safe, if it finds a new course I shall lose all. It will cost 
me more than a thousand dollars. But that is a matter 
of no moment compared with the distress it may occa- 
sion. It is very easy for you to think lightly of the sub-^ 
ject ; but I have been in the vicinity when the moun- 
tain burst out in flames, and poured down a river of 
fire which swept away a town, and even drove back 
the sea from its shores. If you had seen the dark night 
illuminated by that supernatural fire, and heard the 
screams of wretched families flying from their homes, 
you would not wonder at the melancholy with which 
this sight always fills me. Ah, what a fire ! What ruin t 
What devastation !" I could not but sympathize with 
him in his unaffected distress, and feel interested for 



50 VOYAGE TO NAPLES. 

the welfare of a country, in which so honest and gene- 
rous a heart was bound up. 

The night is clear and pleasant, and the air quite 
dry, notwithstanding the remarkable dews which often 
fall in this climate, almost like showers, and have some- 
times covered the deck with large drops of water. 
There is hardly wind enough to ruffle the sea, and the 
moon shines *so bright, as to justify a description Vir- 
gil gives of a night scene on this coast nearly two thou- 
sand years ago. 

" Adspirant auras ia noctem, nee Candida cursum 
Luna neg-at ; splendet tremulo sub lumine pontus." 

[The wind blows softly in the night, nor does the white moon refuse to per- 
form her course ; the ocean glitters in the trembling light.} 

Dec, 24. This evening we are beating up between 
the island of Ischia and the promontory of Misenum, 
through one of the channels into the bay of Naples. 
About noon we passed so near the island, that we could 
see white houses scattered about the shore, and culti- 
vated grounds formed of small terraces, like sheep- 
paths, on a very high and steep hill. The whole island, 
which is sixteen miles in circuit, is in fact a single 
mountain, apparently of solid rock, with only a little 
soil collected into hollow spots, it contains several 
towns, some of which are celebrated for springs of va- 
rious sorts, and are the resort of many strangers, prin- 
cipally English. 

While I am writing, we have entered the channel 
between Misenum and the small island of Procida ; the 
head-wind has increased to a gale, and as the captain 
is not acquainted with the passage', we are obliged to 
tack very often. Whenever we come near Procida, 
we can see a great many lights among the streets, some 
very large, and moving briskly up and down, throning 
gigantic shadows of men's heads and arms against the 



VOYAGE TO NAPLES. 5£ 

houses. This, our oracle says, is on account of the usual 
rejoicings on Christmas eve ; and he wishes we were 
all once well on shore among the people, whose condi- 
tion is so different from our own. It is with pleasure 
I remember my own country, and the society in which 
I spent this evening last year: a group of happy 
friends, about the generous kitchen fire of a Massachu- 
setts farmer ; and 1 sincerely hope to be again sur- 
rounded, at some future time, by the virtuous, cordial 
inhabitants, the invaluable old customs, the substantial 
comforts of New England, 

On board, in the harbour of Naples. Dec, 25. Even- 
ing, After we had got^ well into the bay, as the gale 
still continued, we lay-to until morning, when we found 
ourselves so near the island of Capri, that the white 
houses were in sight, notwithstanding the misty weather. 
The island is much smaller than Ischia, though of 
equally bold outlines. We soon took a fair wind, and 
filled away for Naples. Occasionally the wind cleared 
away the mist, so that we could distinguish very high 
land in several directions, though it was long before 
w^e could form any idea of the peculiar beauties of the 
bay; and as there were frequent showers, this land of 
promise seemed, in no way, materially different from 
our own matter-of-fact country. 

We made little progress for some time, on account 
of the changeableness of the wind, though we had a 
heavy sea in our favour : but things by and by began 
to improve, and the prospect became finer, by our 
gradual approach to the other side of the bay, and by 
the dispersing of the clouds of mist. Mount Vesuvius, 
which had been so entirely concealed that we knew 
not where to look for it, all at once freed itself from 
the clouds, and stood supporting a heavy column of 
dark smoke, which rose to a great height, and remain- 




•32 VOYAGE TO NAPLES. 

ed motionless, as if above the influence of the wind ; 
while the fumes were rising from two distinct courses of 
lava, about three quarters of the distance towards the 
summit. The sun now broke from the clouds, and 
shone full upon a range of large white structures, five 
or six miles ahead, spreading along the shore, and 
reaching up to the top of a hill, a little to the left. The 
cupolas of many churches appeared above, and at the 
distance of fifteen miles, a ridge of mountains was 
seen beyond them, white with snow. Twelve or fifteen 
ships of the line and frigates lay in full view, and the 
masts of many merchantmen began to be discovered, 
clustered close together; and Naples lay before us 
in all her beauty and magnificence. On the left was 
Posilipo, a high hill five miles in length, descending 
abruptly to the water, and charmingly varied with 
villas and hanging gardens. Behind us, and full twenty 
miles offj was the island of Capri, with a broken out- 
line like a blue cloud ; and from Capo Campanella, the 
southern boundary of the bay, the whole eastern shore 
rose hastily to dark hills, half covered with vines and 
olive trees, in some places succeeded by the summits 
of the distant Appennines. Mount Vesuvius, on the 
right, rose from an extensive plain, with a long gra- 
dual sweep, nearly abreast of us, marked along the 
shore with a narrow line of white villages, and scatter- 
ed with a thousand cottages and villas, as small to 
the eye as grains of sand ; which shone whenever the 
sun touched them, and showed, by contrast, the over- 
whelming size of the mountain. New objects were 
unfolding every instant; the city seemed extending 
its size; and gardens, houses, and palaces, grew up 
under our eyes, like objects through a microscope. 

We had soon passed the large ships of war anchor- 
ed in the bay, and were under the guns of the new cas- 



VOYAGE TO NAPLES. 53 

tie, when two boats, painted with bright colours, came 
round the mole, arid hailed us. One contained a pilot 
who spoke English, and took command of the vessel 
without coming on board. The good-natured face of 
our old mess-mate was seen at the companion-way : for 
he had heard the noisy fellows bawling to us, now on 
this side, now on that ; and had come up with his red 
cap, long gray beard, and ear-rings. One or two of 
the boatmen recognized him, called him " Mattia," 
familiarly, and a most animated dialogue instantly be- 
gan, by which we were convinced that the Neapoli- 
tans are not a whit behind the inhabitants of Gibraltar 
in noise or gesture. We were now amidst the bustle 
common on such occasions, not a little increased by a 
large brig following us, which seemed to be in danger 
of running foul of our vessel ; and the crew, gathering 
forward, screamed with all their might in French to 
our helmsman, who deigned not to regard them, never 
moving the tiller a hair, nor altering a muscle of his 
face. Several reports, as of cannon, had been occa- 
sionally ringing through the city ; the sounds, however, 
soon proved to be something more impressive, for a 
bright flash of lightning crinkled through a cloud, and 
was instantly succeeded by a clap of the most appalling 
thunder we had ever heard. It was a succession of 
several loud, sharp, distinct reports, which rung and 
echoed among the high buildings and narrow streets, 
as shrill and clear as if it had been a still, frosty night. 
Flash after flash succeeded, attended by similar peals 
of thunder, which seemed to break just over our heads, 
drowning for a moment the various sounds of busy 
men, and then, rattled along the side of Vesuvius, 
and the high coast beyond. This was indeed an ap- 
propriate and impressive introduction to the . noble 
scenery of the Bay of Naples. 



54 VOYAGE TO NAPLES. 

As soon as we had got round the mole we were in 
still water, and found ourselves among a great number 
of vessels moored in rows. There was a long range 
of white houses, five or six stories high, lining the 
shore, and following it about a mile and a half to the 
right, in a gentle curve. Other buildings were scat- 
tered here and there on the margin of the bay, which 
takes a sweep of four or five miles, to the foot of Vesu- 
vius. 

Boats crowded round us with men of all conditions, 
many of whom recognized with great joy their singu- 
lar countryman ; and though some of them were fisher- 
men in ragged clothes, and others merchants with 
spruce black dresses and powdered hair, they all ma- 
nifested equal surprise and joy, and called him with 
equal familiarity plain " Mattia." Several boats came 
off expressly to speak with him, and after compliments 
and kind words returned. The old man's heart seemed 
actually to boil over with delight, and he often made as 
if he would leap from the vessel. He returned to the 
unbounded hilarity of childhood — he was once more at 
Naples, the gathering place of all his happiness ; and 
the memory of the various scenes he had passed 
through since he left it, seemed to impregnate with 
delight the very air he breathed, and gave him a de- 
gree of importance in his own eyes, because he knew 
that those who live at home hold a returning traveller 
in great, though undefined respect. He took care, 
therefore, to introduce into every sentence a few Spa- 
nish words, of which he possesses some dozens; and 
he even laid claim to an indifferent knowledge of En- 
glish, though all our instructions have hardly been able 
to instil into his obdurate memory, the names for ship- 
bread and the cabin-boy. To our surprise, the lan- 
guage spoken by all around us was such a jumble of 



NAPLES. ^'^ 



strange sounds, that we found the utmost difficulty in 
tracing any resemblance to Italian : indeed, we at all 
times judged of the subject of conversation, more by 
the looks, tones, and gestures of the speaker, than by 
the words he uttered. Their speech is quite over- 
loaded with vowels, pronounced with great distinct- 
ness, and frequently with a monotonous drawl, like a 
complaining child. The old man's tongue readily 
joined the chime of his native dialect, and changing 
from its usual tone, he screamed and drawled, and be- 
came as unintelligible as his countrymen. 

Among the reiterated welcomes from all sides, none 
were more hearty or more pleasant to behold, than 
those from Mattia's faithful servant, Giovanni : a pale, 
emaciated man, with a beseeching look, whose ap- 
pearance and dress denoted the faded fortunes of his 
master, no less than his attachment bore testimony to 
the kindness of his heart. He heard, with the warm- 
est gratitude, how St. Antonio had taken him under his 
care, granted him the peculiar favours of good health, a 
prosperous voyage, and inclined toward him the hearts 
of strangers. He communicated in return, various items 
of family news, some of which caused in his master 
sighs and clasped hands, and others a loud laugh, and 
a short dance on deck. The good fellow gladly set off 
for provisions, and soon returned with two gallons of 
excellent red wine from Vesuvius, a quantity of oran- 
ges, and two fowls dressed with sprigs of box, on ac- 
count of the great feast of Christmas. Several choice 
dishes ready cooked, with a bundle of wearing appa- 
rel, and some " tobacco for the nose," were added by 
the attention of some friends, who expressed a strong 
desire to see the old man once more on shore. 

Naples, on board. — December 26. We learn, from 
the American consul, that we have been sentenced 



56 NAPLES. 

to a quarantine of twenty-one days, as a quantity 
of nankins, of which our cargo partly consists, are 
considered peculiarly susceptible of contagion : be- 
cause no official accounts have lately been received 
from Spain, although the plague had entirely disap- 
peared long before we left Gibraltar. We are to leave 
this harbour, therefore, as soon as possible, and go to 
Nisita, a small island in the bay of Pozzuoli, which is 
a recess in the great bay of Naples, about five miles 
distant. This is a great disappointment to us, after 
the hopes we have entertained of being speedily allow- 
ed to land, and to mingle with the crowds of the city, 
which we have already reconnoitred with our glasses 
along the quays, and in front of the tall white buildings 
which cluster on the shore. There we see citizens 
riding by in coaches and on horseback ; peasants gau- 
dily dressed ; and groups of pale and wretched beg- 
gars, all unconscious of our observation. 

Two musicians have taken the pains to honour our 
arrival with a most singular serenade. One of them, 
an old man of seventy, bore an instrument like a bag- 
pipe in form, but of triple the size, called zambogna- 
da ; and the other, a boy of twelve, played a sort of 
flageolet, called ceramele. They were dressed in 
coats of sheep-skins, the sleeves of which were of se- 
parate pieces, fastened together with a strap behind. 
Instead of stockings, they wore rags upon their legs, 
bound about with strings. The boy had a high coni- 
cal hat, and a leathern pocket, or scrip, hung by his 
side ; and the dress of both was so singular and anti- 
quated, that we concluded they must be the inhabitants 
of some secluded spot, inaccessible to the changes 
of costume, and the votaries of a fashion at least a 
thousand years old. They were from some distant 
part of Calabria ; and our mirth was not a little exci'* 



NISITA.— IN QUARANTINE. 57 

ted by their discordant notes, sometimes accompanied 
with dancing. The boy would occasionally check his 
pipe, and substitute a cracked voice, with the gesture, 
air, and gravity of an accomplished singer, and with a 
most irresistible effect. 

Some Neapolitan troops embarked to-day for Sicily ; 
and it was a melancholy sight to watch the friends of 
the soldiers, crowding the shore to bid them farewell, 
and then to observe through the spy-glass, the down- 
cast looks and last signals of friends and sisters, sons 
and mothers. 

We have received various accounts respecting Mat- 
tia. One says that he has squandered an estate of an 
hundred thousand dollars : — an immense sum in this 
country, and has become poor and crack-brained, in 
consequence of his prodigality and dissipation. Ano- 
ther declares, that he is still very rich, but will soon 
reduce himself to indigence. Some choose to evade 
a precise answer, by shrugging their shoulders myste- 
riously, and tapping their foreheads, so as to leave it 
doubtful whether they mean that he has lost his wits, 
or that he never had any. 

NisiTA, IN QUARANTINE. — December 27. The morning 
was delightful, as we made sail and moved into the 
bay, with a light wind, on our way to this retired 
spot. Vesuvius stood behind us, with nothing be- 
tween but two frigates, and several fishing vessels. 
We sailed along near the shore of Posilipo, which is 
a steep hill several hundred feet high, and fiwe miles 
long, and whose broken surface has been cut down 
with great labour into terraces, and thus is covered 
with hanging gardens. Here we passed by vineyards, 
orange-groves, and fields of flowers, interspersed with 
many beautiful houses, and villas, and varied by the 
natural undulations of the surface. A fine road, the 

8 



5{j JSIS1TA.-1N QUARANTINE. 

work of Murat, traverses the hill, gradually rising 
from the shore, crossing numerous ravines on arched 
bridges, and reaching the summit near the western 
extremity, which is a bluff, three or four hundred feet 
high, and overlooks, at the distance of half a mile, 
the island of Nisita, the place of our retirement. 

North-west from this spot is the bay of Pozzuoli, 
whose hilly coast was formerly covered with many 
magnificent cities, and was the most populous tract of 
country in all this vicinity. Here were the harbours 
of Puteoli, Julius, Baiae, Misenum, &c. the cities of 
Puteoli, Cumae, Baiae, Baulis, Linternum, and Mise- 
num ; the lakes of Avernus and Acheron ; the Elysian 
Fields : and, in short, all that region sometimes called 
the Baian coast, once so crowded by the edifices of 
the luxurious citizens, and the magnificent emperors 
of Rome, and into whose history Virgil has thrown so 
much of the enchantment of poetry. 

As we came slowly round the island of Nisita, this j 
noble bay gradually opened to our view : but the irre- 
gular hills by which it is surrounded, bore no signs of 
inhabitants, except two or three villages, situated se- 
veral miles from each other ; and the soil was not only ! 
destitute of trees, but unenclosed and neglected, pre- 
senting every where a surface brown with dry grass. 

The dreariness of this scene was the more striking, 
as it succeeded the bustle of Naples ; and our spi- 
rits began to sink at the melancholy prospect before 
us, till having sailed under the lofty cliffs of the island, 
from which an old castle was looking down, we got 
round the mole, and entered the quarantine ground. 
Here, under the shadow of a precipice two hundred 
feet high, lay at their moorings seven or eight vessels 
loaded with wheat, from the Black Sea, modelled with 
peculiar beautv, and manned with Greek sailors, whose 



NISITA.—IN QUARANTINE. 59 

singular costume at once excited our surprise and our 
mirth: for while their loose coats, flowing trowsers, 
and coloured turbans, made us question whether they 
were not women, their deep scowling eyes, and black 
mustachios, gave them the expression of fierce ban- 
ditti. 

We soon came to our destined moorings, with the 
row of Greek vessels on our left, under the shade of 
the island, and almost touching the Enigheden of Sand- 
borg^ a Danish brig, which lay within a few yards of 
the shore. The striped volcanic rocks which almost 
overhang us, are worn so ragged by the elements, as 
to present a fantastic outline, when seen against the 
sky ; and the chirping of Httle birds is heard among 
the shrubs clustering in the crevices, and the ever- 
green olive trees peeping over the verge of the preci- 
pice, which rises to such a height above us, that it 
threatens to intercept the sun's light nearly half the 
day. In front, at the distance of half a mile, is the 
bold bluff of Posilipo, formed of yellowish volcanic 
rock, and descending on the left to the valley of Bagn- 
uoli, which is covered with a forest of tall trees, sup- 
porting vines in beautiful festoons. Two or three 
mountains on the other side of the bay of Naples, are 
visible between Nisita and Posilipo ; and at the base 
of the latter stands a small insulated rock, called the 
Lazaretto, where the stores for quarantine goods are 
formed, partly by building, and partly by excavations. 
The view is bounded on the left by a range of unin- 
habited hills, terminating at Pozzuoli ; a miserable 
town on the scite of the ancient Puteoli. From this 
place, opens the broad bay of the same name ; which, 
with the opposite coast of Baiae, about four miles dis- 
tant, is brought under our view by going up the shrouds 
high enough to overlook the mole. 



(JO NISITA.— IN QUARANTINE. 

Mattia has conceived so strong a prejudice against 
the whole Greek nation, that he particularly requested 
we would say nothing to them, and even that we would 
not look that way; professing to know them of old, 
and to have found them ev^en worse than the Neapoli- 
tans : " and they," he cried, beginning to change colour 
again, " they are a nation of thieves and robbers.^ — 
Oh ! how hard it is to be the victims of their plots ; — 
to be consigned to the pilfering hands of the quaran- 
tine guard," pointing to their hut on the mole, " and 
to the Cavagliere, and his gang," pointing at the Laza- 
retto, " and all under pretence of a dread of the 
plague ! Oh ! this vessel that came from Gibraltar to 
Sardinia in four days, and our captain, the best pilot 
that ever sailed the Mediterranean I — let me tell you, 
1 know Naples — I know NeapoHtans — I tell you they 
have brought us here to rob us — T wish with all my 
heart the king were in the city? he is my friend, and 
never would have permitted us to come to this place. 
It is the most unfortunate thing that could have hap- 
pened to us, that he is gone at this time. Every thing 
goes wrong with us. It is only three or four days 
since he sailed for Leghorn, to meet the congress of 
sovereigns at Laybach. But this is a pretence; he 
never intends to return. The government has been 
overturned by the Carbonari, who last summer pro- 
claimed the constitution of Spain, and have now be- 
come so powerful, that it is no longer safe for the mo- 
narch of the country to remain in his own dominions. 
His son Ferdinand is regent, or, as he is called. Gene- 
ral of the Constitution : but he is a revolutionist, and 
cares little for the friends of his father. His father 
has called me friend. I knew him when he was a chico^ 
[a little boy,] and he never has forgotten Mattia. I 
had once a large parrot with silvery eyes, the most 



NISITA.— IN QUARANTINE. 61 

beautiful bird in Italy. I bought it for an immense 
sum ; for, whatever jou may think of me now, I once 
threw gold away by hand-fulls. The king saw it, 
and inquired if I would sell it. 1 told him I valued it 
more than money ; yet, said I, all I have is my king's, 
and if he will accept of the bird, I shall feel myself 
most highly honoured. The next day he offered me 
the command of a frigate ; but I told him that I me- 
rited nothing, by his acceptance of my gift he having 
left me doubly his debtor. Oh ! he never would have 
permitted me to come to this den of thieves. Yet 
things are changed, and mark well, and remember my 
words, " II re di Napoli non ha piu regno — il re di Na- 
poli non e piu re." [The king of Naples has no lon- 
ger a kingdom — the king of Naples is no longer a 
king.] But captain, my dear captain, trust to me. 
You shall not be wronged. I am a Neapolitan as well 
as they, and will prevent their impositions. I know 
the prices of things on shore, and in these scales I 
will weigh what they sell you, and detect their short 
weight. Do not be cast down, then — patienza ! By 
and by we shall get on shore, and all our troubles will 
be ended." So saying, his countenance brightened, 
and he began to dance a fandango, with the agility of 
a boy; then clapping us on the shoulders, and looking 
cheerfully into our faces, he brought out his wine, and 
pledged us in a bumper, saying there was no reason 
for being either melancholy or abstemious, for the sur- 
rounding coast was peopled with his friends, and he 
was sure of supplies as abundant as if he were at Na- 
ples itself. " I have friends," said he, " at Pozzuoli, 
at Baia, at Procida, at Ischia, at Capri, at Posilipo, 
and," to complete a Neapolitan enumeration, ^'"iieW 
inferno.''^ 



t)2 NISITA.— IN QUARANTINE. 

NisiTA. — December 28. When the water sparkles at 
night, it is considered, in the Mediterranean, a pre- 
cursor of easterly weather. Last evening the waves 
shone like liquid fire; and to-day we have a wind 
from east-south-east, with clouds, and a few drops of 
rain. 

The yellow colour, and the granular appearance of 
the romantic precipices of Posilipo and Nisita, led us 
to suppose them formed of sand ; but on close exami- 
nation, they proved to be solid masses of volcanic 
rock, of surprising hardness, and of that description 
sometimes denominated Pozzolana, from the neigh- 
bouring town of Pozzuoli. The bare precipice above 
us betrays innumerable concentric strata, of different 
shades and hues, which preserve the same undula- 
tions, from the summit to the surface of the water, and 
are evidently sunk a considerable distance below. 
Each of these layers, varying in thickness from two 
or three inches, to several feet, imbeds a great many 
bits of volcanic stones, which seem to have dropped 
from the air while the mass was still soft, and retain 
their form, colour, and texture. Some of them are 
little sparkling grains, others, small pummice stones, 
or compact fragments, like variegated marbles, and 
others still are lumps of black cinders, or scoriaci 
which mineralogists distinguish by the name of bombs. 
This singular formation 1 can account for in no other 
way, than by supposing it the result of numerous de-f 
positions of sand and ashes, thrown out at different 
periods by the several volcanoes in the neighbour- 
hood. Whether this will be thought even plausible, 
I know not, for I am not skilled in theories; but it 
seems possible that such a mass, after a course of time, 
and exposure to wet, might become indurated, as these 



NISITA.— IN QUARANTINE. 93 

very rocks, when ground to powder, are well known 
to make a most durable mortar. The principal objec- 
tion seems to lie in the number of layers, and the as- 
tonishing accumulation on the original surface of the 
earth. 

Whatever be the geological history of this vicinity, 
however, the appearance of the rocks is strikingly sin- 
gular and picturesque. The dashing of the water has 
worn many little caverns at the base, which often give 
a hollow echo to the waves, while the face of the pre- 
cipice presents many similar irregularities. Mattia 
declares it to be the universal tradition, that the cliffs 
above us at some former age were washed by the 
ocean, which has since receded to its present level. 
The warm, yellowish hues of the rocks, form a beau- 
tiful contrast with the green shrubs and flowering 
vines, which fasten themselves in every little crevice, 
though it is impossible to discover the least particle of 
soil. 

The discharging of our cargo has begun, and we 
have been allowed to land at the Lazaretto, and 
amuse ourselves as well as we could on that little 
rock. We found it the residence of half a dozen rag- 
ged fellows, and it was not a little surprising, when we 
stepped out of the boat, to find that they all avoided 
us, and shrunk into the nearest corner, screaming 
aloud, if we approached, apparently in the greatest 
distress. We were not a little irritated at what looked 
so much like a premeditated insult; and the sailors 
were ready to fall upon the wretches with the boat's 
oars. But Mattia begged we would not notice them, 
saying, that as we were in quarantine, the mere touch 
of our clothes would subject them to a strict confine- 
ment for twenty days; and he at length effected a 
general pacification, and arranged matters so that we 



54 NISITA.— IN QUARANTINE. 

might pass and repass with the greatest convenience ; 
for he showed as much familiarity with the rules of 
the place, as if he had been in quarantine half his 
days. Besides, this singular philanthropist knew half 
this society by name ; and the arrival of " Mattia" 
seemed to them the harbinger of much enjoyment : 
for they soon ranged themselves at a convenient dis- 
tance from him, and listened to what he said, with the 
looks of men expecting to be pleased. He seasoned 
his discourse with gifts of tobacco ; and occasionally, 
taking a pinch of snuff, he placed his box on the 
ground and retired, while his audience helped them- 
selves, and prepared for another of his long stories ; 
which, if we might judge from the laughter they pro- 
duced, (for the dialect was utterly unintelligible,) were 
well worthy of record. 

Even the limited space afforded by the Lazaretto, 
proves an agreeable retreat from the vessel, particu- 
larly as it commands a much more extensive view, and 
being exposed to the wind is usually surrounded with 
dashing waves. There are two little gardens on the 
brow of a precipice forty and sixty feet above the 
water, which are supplied with earth brought in boats, 
and, even at this season of the year, are full of many 
vegetables we have never seen before, all in a most 
flourishing condition. 

We are indebted to the old man, not only for a great 
deal of amusement, but for many opportunities of 
observing the peculiarities of Neapolitans : for he 
seems to delight in stirring them to the greatest show 
of hostility, and then in pacifying them, as if to exhi- 
bit his countrymen in every point of view. This, though 
not very comfortable to the subjects themselves, is 
deeply interesting to him, and was at first highly amu- 
sing to us: for it seems that the wordy quarrel he 



NSIITA.— IN QUARANTINE. 65 

brought with him when he came on board off Gibral- 
tar, is a fair specimen of half the employment of those 
by whom we are daily surrounded. These are princi- 
pally pale, ragged, and effeminate men, without much 
ostensible business, and apparently the surplus of a 
beggarly population. But they are, if possible, still 
more noisy than idle ; and if they do five times less 
than ordinary men, they talk ten times more. A sin- 
gle word of raillery from the old man, is sufficient to 
raise their hasty spirits to the boiling point, and a most 
violent ebullition is the immediate result. But a cause 
of provocation is never long wanting among themselves : 
for scarcely a boat leaves the shore, without an insult- 
ing address from some quarter, which never fails to 
bring on a retort, and an engagement of tongues soon 
becomes universal. The recruits are as noisy and vio- 
lent as the principals; fists are clenched, bodies thrown 
into contortions like violent spasms, and the most tre- 
mendous oaths poured out in torrents. At first we 
looked with dread at such signs of deadly rage, and 
expected blood and broken heads : but in an instant 
all became quiet, and proceeded as if nothing unusual 
had happened. Unusual indeed it was not, but unac- 
countable it is still; and we are as much at a loss 
to explain these sudden transitions from one extre- 
mity of feeling to the other. Mattia's mind is certainly 
wrong, but where, it is difficult to tell : for many of 
those extravagances which seemed to stamp him as a 
madman, are now converted into national peculiari- 
ties. He is not, as I can see, a whit more irascible 
than his countrymen. They all fly into fits of passion 
as hastily, and yet show that they possess the same 
control over themselves when in a frenzy. The loud 
voices and drawling tones which they assume on such 
occasions, have so often proved them all a set of noisy 

9 



QQ NISITA.-IN QUARANTINE. 

cowards, that we no longer give them any notice. We 
hear them quarrelling twenty times a day, but not a 
blow has yet been struck. " If they were Yankees," 
was the reflection of one of our sailors, " half of them 
would have been dead long ago." Their behaviour 
forms, indeed, a striking contrast with the noiseless 
and unimpassioned lives of ourselves, the Danes, and 
the Greeks, who are all too proud to be affected by 
their useless clamour. Yet, when undisturbed by 
passion, the Neapolitans show a vivacity of mind, a 
propensity to humour and satire, and a natural ease 
of expression, above all other men 1 have ever seen. 
The most degraded of those around us, will often 
enter into a conversation with the greatest appear- 
ance of wit, fluency, and easy gesture; They never 
speak without making a motion of the limbs or body 
correspondent to their words, so that they may be 
said to speak two languages at once. A deaf and 
dumb person would often comprehend their mean- 
ing, by observing the innumerable and expressive 
signs with which they enforce their words; and they 
exceed the French in this particular, at least as much 
as the French exceed ourselves. 

NisiTA. — Dec. 29, A boat came rowing from Pozzu- 
oli to-day to bring Mattia a present of wine, oranges, 
&c. with a notice that the friend who had sent them 
intended to pay him a visit, and bring his wife and 
children to meet him on the mole. " Three beautiful 
children !" exclaimed the old man, " two chicos and 
a chicorridito^''^ for he really loves miniature men and 
women, and maintains the staunch bachelor doctrine 
that he alone truly enjoys their smiles and prattle, who 
is able to fly from their tears and their inharmonious 
complaints. The Spanish words above quoted, mean 
small, and very small indeed ; and these, in the jargon he 



NISITA— IN QUARANTINE. (57 

uses to US, are applied equally to the glass for rossog- 
lia, (the famous Neapolitan cordial,) a coal for light- 
ing his pipe, and to Sam, our little cabin-boy. 

To-day, by a most unlucky accident, the favourite 
parrot of our non-descript messmate flew on board the 
Greek brig beside us, much to his chagrin: for he 
dreaded lest the guards should discover it, and inter- 
dict its return, as the Greeks lie under an eternal 
quarantine, on account of the plague vs^hich now rages 
on the coasts of the Black sea. The crew of the brig 
collected about the parrot as soon as he touched the 
deck, and formed a group truly Asiatic, with their 
round jackets, loose trowsers, legs bare from the knee, 
and some of them with shaggy great coats and hoods. 
Their turbans were of different colours, and showed 
a tuft of red cloth, or dark hair on the crown. A re- 
quest was made that the guard might not become ac- 
quainted with the circumstance, (for many of the 
Greeks understand a little Italian,) and a young man, 
of a finely-proportioned and muscular frame, came 
forward with a few words in Greek, and took the 
" chicorridito" under his charge. This was the com- 
mander of the vessel ; who, by the strength and manly 
beauty of his form, his regular and expressive features, 
and, above all, by the native dignity of his carriage 
and behaviour, would have figured at the head of a 
fleet. His face possesses many of the peculiarities 
for which ancient sculptors manifest so decided a 
a fondness, though yet varied and tamed in such a 
manner, as to be entirely free from that faultless insi- 
pidity which is at fi st their most striking expression. 
The national physiognomy may be traced through the 
whole crew, and the effect of it is much heightened 
by their black mustachios, and their hair which hangs 
in curls almost to the shoulders, after the ancient 



gg NISITA.— IN QUARANTINE. 

fashion preserved in the Apollo Belvidere and many 
other statues. 

These men are all active seamen, decidedly more so 
than any others we have ever seen; though they 
make, to our eyes, an awkward figure aloft, and look, 
vi^hen they are handing the sails, not unlike a coun- 
cil of old women. The Greek merchant vessels are 
considered the finest models in the whole world : but 
the men are deficient in that skilful and neat perform- 
ance of their duty, which our sailors regard with so 
much delight, as the perfection of their art. Several 
of the vessels near us are well armed, and they all 
carry such large crews, as to ensure their safety 
against the attacks of both cruisers and storms. 

NisiTA. — January 1. Yesterday mornings (it being 
both Sunday and the last day of the year,) several 
boats came to visit the vessels, and to supply such 
persons as were inclined to buy, with religious pic- 
tures, crucifixes, &c. Each of them contained a priest 
or two, who succeeded in bartering a few of their 
wares, and obtained in return money for themselves, 
and wine for their rowers. The Greeks were their 
principal customers, for their own church resembles 
that of Rome in some particulars; and the noble 
young captain in the adjoining vessel kissed, with 
great solemnity, the emblems he thus obtained. 

The day was bright and warm, and in the afternoon 
we went to the Lazaretto. Every thing was still, ex- 
cept the dashing of the waves against the base of the 
rock, forty feet below. Towards the south-east, the eye 
ranged, without interruption, over a part of the bay of 
Naples, bounded at the distance of near twenty miles 
by a ridge of blue mountains, ending at Cape Campa- 
nella ; beyond which was the bold form of Capri, and 
the sea beyond, soon intercepted by the little neigh- 



NAPLES. (39 

bouring island of Nisita, sloping towards us, and 
covered with vineyards and olive groves. Several 
vessels were sailing for the harbour of Naples ; but 
not one of them turned her course towards the bay 
of Pozzuoli and her numerous ports, once so important 
in commerce and in war. From the northern preci- 
pice of Nisita, under whose shelter the quarantined 
vessels lay at their moorings, this bay opened to view, 
with its opposite shore, four or 6ve miles off Saving 
tw^o or three villages, the hills were varied only by a 
few shapeless heaps, the ruins of edifices, which, 
under the empire of Rome, gave this scene a de- 
gree of magnificence, of which Naples, with all its 
splendour, can afford us but a faint idea. To realize 
with what throngs this coast was once populated, and 
then to turn and look upon it as it now is, strikes the 
mind like the sudden shifting of scenes in a drama. 
The soil is neglected and wild, the navies have disap- 
peared from their anchorage, the sounds of life from 
an overflowing population, have given place to a 
solemn silence, and the deserted bay of Pozzuoli 
spreads out before us : a bare sheet of water, on 
which nothing is seen but the crazy boat of some 
wretched fisherman. It is not the silence of well- 
earned repose, and of calm meditation, such as over- 
spreads our country on this Sabbath: but it is the 
stillness of desertion and ruin. 

Harbour of Naples. — January 15. After a fortnight 
more spent in the monotony of quarantine, we this 
morning received permission to unmoor ; and the 
sailors immediately began this work, with a loud " yo- 
heave O !" which, in the clear morning, rang among 
the rocks like the notes of a bugle. So light was the 
wind that the sun set before we reached Naples, and 
the bright red in the west threw a briUiant hue upon 
the waves, where it mingled with a rich blue borrowed 



70 NAPLES. 

from the sky, like the play of colours on a dove's 
neck. When the twilight had succeeded, this rich 
tint still remained, though much faded, and partially 
broken by several English and French frigates lying 
at anchor in the bay. In the east, the moon was be- 
ginning to shine over the mountains ; and the water, 
when disturbed by the passing of a boat, sparkled 
like silver dust ; Vesuvius, rising dark and almost to the 
moon, was spotted by different masses of the flowing 
lava, like red-hot iron; and threw a long train of light 
upon the bay, where it was darkened by the shade. 

As the carnival is to begin to-morrow, we were led 
to expect unusual signs of festivity; and, as we ap- 
proached the city, a thousand lights were moving along 
the shore. Candles shine from the windows, at different 
heights, and torches from the fishing-boats in the har- 
bour. Many of them are constantly moving, frequently 
hidden by passing crowds, and each throws a bright ray 
upon the water, so that the scene is not unlike that 
presented by one of our meadows, when illuminated 
by a host of fire-flies on a still summer evening. A 
confused but musical sound is heard from the city. It 
is the bustle of the crowd of Naples on a holy-day 
evening, mixed with the chiming of bells, the explo- 
sion of fire-works, which resembles the roll of a drum, 
the loudest notes of many a distant serenade, and the 
roar of the surf dashing against the shore. 

January 18. The celebrated scenery of thi- vicinity 
is of a peculiar description. The bay of Naples is 
well nigh thirty miles in diameter ; and this immense 
basin, or goblet, as the Neapolitans are fond of deno- 
minating it, is surrounded by mountains on a corres- 
ponding scale of magnificence. As if to add a mas- 
ter-stroke to the scene, a volcano is introduced, with 
all that is imposing in its size and figure, and all the 
sublimity of a depository of power so enormous, 




m 



1"^ 



NAPLES. 71 

SO mysterious, whose terrible effects are seen in 
devastated fields and ruined cities. It rises near the 
shore, from an extensive and fertile plain, at first with 
a slope so smooth and gradual as to be hardly per- 
ceptible, then steeper and steeper, till its upper part 
is a perfect cone, like the heap of sand in the bottom of 
an hour-glass, and formed in the same manner, by ma- 
terials supplied from the top. In addition to the 
various appearances which, in common with other 
mountains, Vesuvius assumes from the changes of sea- 
son and weather, the smoke, which is continually 
ascending from the crater, gives an important variety 
to it at every change of wind, light and shade. When 
it is perfectly calm, the smoke rises to an immense 
height, like a noble column supporting the sky : at 
other times, it flies to such a distance that it forms all 
the clouds that are to be seen, and heightens the 
scene at sun-set, by a reddish dusky hue, peculiar to 
itself. This morning the sun rose a little southward 
of the mountain, among piles of broken clouds, which 
dazzled the eyes with red, yellow, and orange-coloured 
light. The wind was strong from the north-east, and, 
blowing the smoke from the crater, rolled it slowly 
down the side of the mountain, in a dense, unbroken 
volume. At two-thirds the distance to the plain it 
lifted itself up, and forming a fine curve, rose into the 
air much higher than the crater, growing broader and 
brighter, till it assumed the colours of the clouds and 
mingled in their company. For half an hour, the 
mountain was entirely in the shade : but when the 
light of the sun at length shone over the summit, it 
fell upon the descending volume of smoke, and tinged 
the edges of its ten thousand little curls. A view 
hke this is worthy of being longer dwelt upon, if 
it could be adequately described : — the mountain 
-oemed pouring out a flood of coined silver. 



72 NAPLES. 

Naples. — January 20. Our quarantine having ex- 
pired, we stepped on shore this morning, among a 
crowd of pale and ragged men, who extended their 
hands, not to welcome us into their country, but to 
beg for alms. " Take care of your pockets, gentle- 
men," cried our friends — " they are great thieves." 
" Keep your mouths shut," said Mattia, (or something 
like it,) " they will steal your teeth." The buildings 
are very high, the streets narrow, and crowded with 
people bustling about among a thousand shops, whose 
windows are stocked with articles of all sorts exposed 
for sale. The Corso, which is one of the finest 
streets, appeared to us inconvenient, both by its nar- 
rowness and its want of side-walks : for foot-passen- 
gers are obliged to mingle among horses and coaches, 
to the no small risk of life and limb, in a most motley 
crowd ; and we were often forced from the wall by a 
row of orange-women, or other little merchants, who 
are permitted to occupy some parts of the narrow pave- 
ment. This new scene was quite bewildering. Citi- 
zens were passing by at various paces, all wearing 
black mustachios, which are here considered neces- 
sary for soldiers ; and, since the proclamation of the 
Constitution, every man holds himself ready for its 
defence. The state of things is extremely doubtful. 
An Austrian invasion is regarded as almost inevitable, 
sooner or later, and the presence of so many French 
and English ships of the line and frigates, twelve or 
fifteen in all, which have been collecting in the bay for 
some time without any avowed object, has caused sus- 
picion and uneasiness. Many persons, both foreigners 
and natives, are removing with their property to other 
countries; and the little money-changers, who sit at 
the corners to give copper for silver and gold, without 
discount, prove practically the increased value of the 
precious metals. 



NAPLES. 73 

ft was amusing to observe the street-scribes, whom 
we frequently passed, seated with small tables before 
them, and all the materials for writing. This is a 
description of persons, I believe, found no where else, 
though they certainly seem to be considered here of 
the utmost importance, by those who need their ser- 
vices. These are chiefly soldiers, who wish to com- 
municate with their friends at home, and some of them 
assume the penitent air of a wild son, or the glistening 
glance of a faithful absent lover, while they stand at the 
ear of the scribe, and dictate their epistles. A Ho- 
garth would love to perpetuate on his canvass the 
groups they often formed, and catch the half comic 
expressions of abstraction and diligence in their re- 
spective faces, while the sigh is translated into written 
language, the letter sealed and the money paid. 

There is something peculiar in the physiognomy of 
the Neapolitans — round faces, black eyes, dark com- 
plexions, and a national resemblance remarkable only 
by a stranger, but as palpable to him as the strong 
family likeness in brothers and sisters. 

The consul and the members of an American mer- 
cantile house, to whom we brought letters, have 
received us with a cordiality which testifies the 
attachment they retain to their country, after a long 
residence in a land of strangers ; and to them, as 
well as to the Americans in Gibraltar, we are already 
indebted for many offices of kindness. 

In the evening we looked down, from an upper 
window, upon the funeral of one of the king's old 
generals, which passed along the street, from a church 
in which it had lain some hours, to the " Holy Field," 
without the city, where many of the dead are now 
interred. A long procession of troops proceeded 
in silence, while the lamps shone on their afms and 

10 



74 NAPLES. 

steel helmets, yet left them in such ohsnnrity, that the 
antiquated and foreign aspect of the houses, with the 
motley crowd of gazers at window and balcony, some- 
times brought to minda crusade army, sometimes a 
Roman legion. Forty friars followed, muffled in white 
frocks, and bearing lighted candles, their faces con- 
cealed by linen caps, with holes for the eyes, and 
shaded with broad black hats. All at once the trum- 
pets struck up a dead march; and long after the 
procession had passed by, w^e heard vollies of musketry 
fired over the grave. 

A gentleman who had politely offered to conduct us 
to the landing-place, for fear of some accident in the 
darkness of the evening, stept into the boat to accom- 
pany us to the vessel, as we have had no opportunity 
to seek for a hotel. With much enthusiasm he refer- 
red to the liberal institutions of America; but his 
praises of our country would have flattered us still 
more, if he had shown any distinct idea of the sub- 
ject. He is quite young however, and many of his 
countrymen may be much better informed ; though, to 
confess the truth, after this introduction to Naples, 
with its dizzying bustle, and stunning sounds, I believe 
we are all wiUing to allow, that it is difficult to form 
an intimate acquaintance with any people, except by 
personal contact and observation. Our friend how- 
ever showed that warmth of manner, while speaking 
of the situation of affairs, and declared with so much 
enthusiasm, his resolution and that of his countrymen 
to be free or die, that I am sure we shall think of him, 
wherever we are, when w^e hear of the termination of 
their contest. On taking leave to return on shores 
we were obliged to yield to the fashion of the coun- 
try ; for, in spite of his long mustachios, he insisted on 
giving each of us a memorable salute on the lips. A 



NAPLES.— VESUVIUS. 75 

momentary silence ensued among us, which was caused 
by our making involuntarily a mental inquiry, whe- 
ther similar things were likely often to occur ; though 
it is certain, that in the case of so warm a heart, the 
true value of a kiss should not be regarded as dimin- 
ished by a long beard. But after all, how difficult it is 
for a traveller to foresee "• through what new scenes 
and changes" he must pass ! 

Naples. — Vesuvius. — January 20. We had fixed 
on to-day for making an excursion to Vesuvius ; 
and according to a previous arrangement, Mattia, 
that compound of eccentricity and good nature, was 
put at the head of the expedition. At sun-rise a 
carozza, (a sort of four-wheeled carriage with a bel- 
lows top,) stood ready for us ; and notwithstanding its 
size, was made to contain our whole party, including 
the officers of the vessel. Little Sam, the cabin-boy, 
rode behind, his presence being insisted upon by the 
old man, who had given him his word that he would 
carry him to Vesuvius, for he takes equal delight in the 
happiness of old and young. It was a clear, delight- 
ful morning ; and as we rolled swiftly along the curved 
shore, the little fountains seemed to play with un- 
wonted life and freshness. When we had emerged 
from the shade of the long line of houses, which borders 
the margin of the water for a mile or more, the view 
opened upon the great plain on the left ; the bay lay 
spread out beautifully on the right, with its moun- 
tainous shores and distant islands ; and Vesuvius stood 
majestically in front, with all the smoke of its crater 
rising to an immense height, through the still air. 
Fishermen were collected, along the shore preparing 
their nets, or pushing off their boats, with that air of 
languor in their motions and postures, which in pic- 
tures seems so much like the creation of the artist. 



7(3 NAPLES—VESUVIUS. 

The delightful plain on our left stretched off' to the 
Appennines, about fifteen miles ; and, though now so 
much changed from its ancient fertility as to be called 
the " Fields of Labour," instead of the "Happy Coun- 
try," the tract around us seemed the richest and best 
cultivated ground in the world. Here are numerous 
gardens, which supply Naples with vegetables of 
various sorts, all divided by ditches, through which 
water is distributed from reservoirs, by means of 
bucket-wheels, like those used in ancient times on the 
banks of the Nile. The beds were covered with 
crops of a rich green, heightened by the dew, and 
by the horizontal light of morning ; and the plastered 
and thatched cottages here and there were more pic- 
turesque than comfortable. Many peasants were on 
the road, with loads of vegetables on mules and don- 
kies, long pipes of wine in carts drawn by oxen, of a 
most uncommon size, and a light grey colour, some*- 
times working with a puny donkey, not much larger 
than a dog, harnessed with old ropes, and sticking to 
his side like a collateral circumstance. On the whole, 
the scene was of the fairest and brightest, notwith- 
standing the figure it makes when thus led out to view 
in the fetters of written prose; and it would have done 
nothing more than justice to all our feelings, had we 
joined our voices with little Sam, who declared it to be 
his full belief, that he should never see such a day 
again. 

The immense range called the King's Granaries, is 
about half a mile in length ; but the white villages 
which border the bay at the foot of Vesuvius, proved 
to be clusters of miserable old houses, instead of the 
neat and elegant structures which they had promised 
to furnish when at a distance ; and the inhabitants, 
like their dwellings, excited only ideas of the most 
antique and slovenlv fashions. 



NAPLES— VESUVIUS. 77 

Having passed three or four distinct towns, we 
arrived at Portici, where we were instantly surround- 
ed by a set of ragged fellows, leading mules and don- 
kies enough to carry forty men. Each tried to attract 
our notice by calling louder than his neighbours, and 
forced his sorry animals as near to us as possible, by 
dint of the most outrageous cudgelling. It would 
have been almost impossible to proceed — luckily we 
had reached our stopping place, and Mattia, hastily 
seizing some provisions he had got at Naples for our 
dinner, and desiring us to follow, pushed through the 
crowd and led us down a dark lane, where probably 
no inhabitant of the New World had ever strayed 
before. Keeping at his heels, we entered a gate, 
scaled an outside stone stair-case, and startled a quiet 
family by our sudden appearance. But all was set 
right by the fluent tongue of our leader, who explained 
to a man and his good-humoured old wife, with large 
eyes and curious broad ear-rings, that he should take 
the liberty to bring us to the house of an old friend, 
on our return from the mountain towards evening, to 
dine on the provisions he had just laid on the shelf, to 
wit : a leg of veal, two small animals which resembled 
skinned cats but proved to be lambs, together with 
various other articles. This proposition was heard 
with pleasure, though they much marvelled who and 
whence we could be — such singular faces, such strange 
clothes — men that could not understand a '' Christian" 
when he spoke, but jumbled together an incomprehen- 
sible mass of sounds, and had doubtless come from a 
very far and a very strange country. Curious eyes 
were seen peeping at us through half-shut doors and 
old-fashioned latticed windows, and we were glad to 
hurry away and bestride the horses, donkies and mules 
which we found waiting patiently for us at a corner. 



7 a NAPLES.-VESUVIUS. 

Our saddles were so old, and the animals had been so 
cruelly disfigured by the galling of various harnesses 
before, that it was difficult to tell which was saddle, 
and which was skin. We mounted, however; and 
long ears and rope-haUers were the order of the day. 

Our cavalcade indeed was a ludicrous one, and cor- 
responded well with the anticipated description we 
had heard of it, off the coast of Sardinia. For what 
with the wretched appointment of our animals, their 
proverbial stubbornness, increased rather than soft- 
ened by the hardness of their lot, together with the 
awkwardness we felt on shore, excited the mirth of 
persons both up street and down ; and windows were 
thrown open and doors crowded on all hands, to wit- 
ness our setting out. Great confusion immediately 
ensued — some of us were borne along sideways to- 
wards a stable or an inn door, by the inveterate 
habits of our animals, and others found to their surprise, 
that knotted ropes and broomsticks, possess little or 
no virtue in Italy: some clattered awhile along the pave- 
ment, like a cat shod with walnut-shells, and then, by 
a sudden stop, were near being thrown to the ground. 

By dark and narrow lanes, we began a gradual 
ascent. Vineyards succeeded, which at this season 
are quite leafless ; and for about two miles the ride 
was dreary, and the few persons we met wore igno- 
rance and poverty written in their countenances. 
The stones of which the walls were built, were only 
varieties of volcanic matter; and it was evident that 
every particle of the soil had originally proceeded 
from the crater. On inquiring of Mattia for his gar- 
den, he said it was on the opposite side of the moun- 
tain, and inaccessible on account of the lava. 

At length, we reached the limit of cultivation, and 
all the obstructions of vineyards and houses being 



NAPLES.— VESUVIUS. 79 

removed, the bay and its coasts were seen below. In 
front was a tract of level ground, about a mile across, 
rising very gradually to the foot of the conical mount, 
properly called Vesuvius, and presenting a surface 
made entirely of black stones, thrown together with 
the utmost irregularity, like the broken ice floating 
down one of our rivers in the spring. This is the 
path of that stream of lava which burst out at the side 
of the mountain in 1794, and swept away the village 
of Torre del Greco, near the shore. It was easy, 
with the description given by the guide, (a man in tat- 
tered clothes and a sugar-loaf hat,) to understand the 
state of things during an eruption, and the degrees of 
risk to which different parts of the neighbourhood are 
exposed. The failing of the springs, the subterranean 
sounds, and the earthquakes, which precede every 
great eruption, give the inhabitants sufficient warning; 
and flames, smoke and ashes burst out at the crater, 
before any great quantity of lava makes its appear- 
ance. Sometimes indeed it overflows, and rushes down 
the side of the cone before us with great rapidity, for 
it is very steep and smooth in every part. But a 
chasm is usually opened at the foot of this cone, 
whence a stream flows out till the internal commotion 
is relieved : and this is sometimes great, as we might 
well conclude from the sight now before us. This 
plain, perhaps not more than a mile broad, yet extend- 
ing to the right, and then following the natural declivity 
of the ground for about three miles down to the sea, 
presented an uniform surface of broken, black stones, 
where was not to be discovered any other object 
whatever, nor a single spot of any other colour. 

As we left the sand and short turf, and entered upon 
this dreary tract, the lava grated under the feet of the 
mules, though it is of such hardness and durability 



y 



8Q NAPLES.— VESUVIUS. 

that the path, which has not been trodden for many 
years, is now scarcely perceptible. It led us however 
to the left, across one corner of the current, and to 
a steep ridge about three hundred feet high, which 
runs from the base of the cone towards the bay, and 
seems the only spot entirely out of danger. The 
sides of the ridge are partly covered with scattering 
trees, and in many places present only the naked faces 
of stratified volcanic rocks of a warm yellow hue. A 
sudden turn showed us a steep path, winding with 
toil through a natural rift, where the scene instantly 
became circumscribed, but wild and striking in a high 
degree — a mere foot-path between natural walls often 
surprisingly smooth, and sometimes irregular with 
overhanging cliffs, and bunches of shrubs. Our caval- 
cade was in such excellent keeping with this wild 
place, that it was a most fortunate circumstance for 
us there was no artist on the spot to carry us off in 
his port-folio, like pressed leaves in a hortus siccus. 

Having passed along the ridge to near the middle of 
it, we mounted a bank, so steep that our nautical com- 
panions thought of nothing but " wind and tide ahead," 
and found ourselves at the Hermitage. It fronts the 
west, where is a large area lined with old trees, and 
a garden declining in front; and the view is delightful 
over Naples, and the bay. Some of the ships below 
were firing salutes ; but distance had so much dimi- 
nished human concerns, that although we heard the 
cause, my memory refused to retain it. The building 
is large for two men, certainly for two hermits. It con- 
tains stables for a number of horses, and lodgings for 
their riders, beside the small apartments occupied by 
the brethren, the furniture of which is so antiquated, 
and the stone walls and floors so worn aw^ay, that the 
aspect of the whole might be compared with that of a 



7\ 






\ ^ ' ^^. 



^4U 



A \ V 




NAPLES.— VESUVIUS. 3 1 

countenance embrowned and wrinkled by extreme old 
age. Near at hand is a spot occupied by a number of 
^one posts, called the Stations of the Cross, intended 
to represent the several circumstances which, accord- 
ing to the traditions of the Romish church, occurred 
on the way from the judgment seat to Calvary. Here 
the religious sometimes perform a solemn circuit, 
kneeling and praying before each, according to pre- 
scribed rules, miserable pictures being painted there 
to describe the various scenes. 

This rocky ridge on which we were now travelling, 
was very narrow ; and a little beyond there was barely 
room for a path. On the right, lay the dismal plain we 
had lately left, three or four hundred feet below, while 
before us rose Vesuvius, in an immense cone, surround- 
ed and capped with clouds of smoke. On the left was a 
deep ravine, the opposite side of which rises to Monte 
Somma, a broken summit of bare, grey rocks, the 
highest as well as the most ancient peak of the moun- 
tain. Down this narrow valley ran the current of 
lava which burst out I think during the eruption of 
1772 ; and it now lies at the bottom — a broken bed of 
black and useless rocks. It had to pass a precipice 
seventy feet high, where, during the night, it presented 
the splendid spectacle of a cascade of fire ; and one 
may form some idea of its appearance, as well as of 
the manner in which a current of lava usually flows, 
by observing the broken masses lying confusedly 
below, and others still hanging from above. The 
upper surface soon becomes partly cooled and hard ; 
and, by the motion of the half liquid mass beneath, soon 
cracks, and is thrown up in flat pieces, exactly, as 1 
have before remarked, like the ice in a river, torn 
away by the stream. Thus the ridge on which we 
were standing, has been almost insulated by torrents 

11 



32 NAPLES.— VESUVIUS. 

of a terrible description; and the hermits have been 
sometimes seriously alarmed, though without much 
reason, as they are at a great height above them. * 

We crossed the old lava just above the precipice; 
and here were obliged to dismount and go on foot, 
because of the present eruption, which a month ago 
sent a stream in this direction, and to this spot. It 
was still warm, and even hot under our feet, and in 
many places hot air rose from the crevices, so that it 
was probably still soft beneath. Passing this, we 
arrived in a few minutes at Monte Somma, which is 
formed of a light grey volcanic rock, speckled with 
dark, crystalline grains- Notwithstanding its appa- 
rent durability, it gradually yields to the elements : for 
several veins, or dykes, w hich cross it nearly perpen- 
dicularly, are left projecting, from one to three feet^ 
like low stone walls. 

The guide now led us towards the foot of Vesuvius 
properly so called, which rises, like an immense ant 
heap, about twelve hundred feet high; and all the way 
we trod on newly-formed lava. Steams were issuing 
out on all sides ; but at the foot ♦of Vesuvius, the 
place where the lava first appears, smoke was rising 
in clouds, which sometimes shaded the sun. There 
we scrambled up a heap of loose rocks, along the top 
of which was slowly flowing a stream of half-fluid 
matter, in a ditch three or four feet wide, self-formed 
but perfectly straight and regular. It was encrusted with 
a porous, black surface : but whenever a cloud passed 
over, or rather when the smoke of Vesuvius rolled for 
an instant between us and the sun, it brightened like 
red-hot iron, or a rattle-snake suddenly enraged, while 
a strange crackling sound passed over it that made us 
start. Quantities of the lava were easily taken out 
with a stick, but the heat was so great as to make the 
operation somewhat inconvenient. It was so hot as to 



NAPLES.-VESUVIUS. 33 

make the wood blaze ; but soon grew hard, and in 
a few minutes cold enough to handle. While thus era- 
ployed, we heard repeated sounds like distant thunder, 
which we supposed to be the guns discharged from the 
ships in the bay, though our guide declared they came 
from the mountain. 

About thirty yards above this place, was a heap of 
rocks fifty feet high, which marked the spot where the 
lava burst from the ground. Smoke was passing off 
by a hole in the top, while the current flowed from its 
base. Within a short distance, there were several 
other mounds of this description, each of which 
was performing on a small scale the work of a vol- 
cano, and was in fact a mimic Vesuvius. By an accu- 
mulation of stones, the passage gradually becomes 
clogged, and at length the lava finds a new vent, where 
it forms a new channel and a new cone. 

Through a hole, we saw the lava just as it issued 
from the mountain — there it was, fifteen feet below us, 
in a cauldron it had formed, eddying and almost boil- 
ing, like melted iron, shining in its own infernal light, 
and possessing an aspect unaccountably dreadful, as 
if it had brought along some of the horrors of the bot- 
tomless pit. Here, we were told, a Frenchman lost 
his life few days before. Whether his death was 
accidental or intended, we could not satisfy ourselves. 
Our guide, the brother of him who had accompanied 
the Frenchman, declared he threw himself in : but 
nobody, 1 think, could look down this chasm and 
believe it. That he perished here is certain however; 
and the Neapolitan saw his remains re-appear below, 
and float down the current ! 

But the most arduous part of our enterprise still lay 
before us. The quantity of lava lately thrown out 
has raised the surface considerably, and left a narrow 



84 NAPLES.— VESUVIUS. 

space between it and Vesuvius, in crossing which we 
sunk to our ankles at every step, in black ashes. We 
told the guide to lead the way up : but he pretended 
surprise at finding we thought of going any further, 
declared that a stream of lava was running down from 
above, which had cut off the usual path, and finally 
told us the ascent was impossible, and he was resolved 
not to proceed. This was probably only a pretended 
objection. We set out, therefore, leaving half our 
party behind, and climbed up the side of the moun- 
tain, which was made of sand and ashes, smooth, and 
compacted very hard ; while at the distance of every 
three or four feet, were the projecting corners of 
stones, which have been thrown from the crater. The 
angle of ascent we judged to be nearly forty-five 
degrees, so that the labour was great. Sometimes we 
slid back on the hard surface, sometimes lost one step 
out of two among soft ashes, catching at the sharp 
stones, for a hold, and thus labouring on till we could 
hardly creep, and then sat or lay down to recover 
breath. Above, the smoke appeared more and more 
distinctly, rising up in thick curls : but when we had 
reached the top, the crater was still at a great dis- 
tance. An irregular plain of five or six acres lay be- 
fore us, bounded by hills on three sides; and just 
opposite was a conical mound, about an hundred and 
fifty feet high, with the great column of smoke issuing 
from it. The unobstructed view we had just had under 
our eyes, of the bay and its vicinity, now suddenly 
gave place to a most revolting landscape : little hills 
and vallies of black, volcanic matter, with rocks so 
arranged as to form a sort of scenery, but of such a 
gloomy character as cannot well be imagined. 

Our guide, who had unwillingly followed us to this 
place, now declared it would be utterly impossible to 



NAPLES.— VESUVIUS. ({5 

proceed any further : and we were inclined to believe 
him. Clouds of smoke were rising from the broken 
rocks in every direction, and often obscured the sight ; 
the flat ground at the foot of the little hills on the left, 
was the place occupied, only last year, by a smoking 
mount, which had suddenly fallen in, and given place 
to that now before us. Even where we stood the lava 
was hot to our feet; and scalding streams burst out 
from the crevices, with a loud hiss, like the leaks of 
a steam-engine. After some persuasion however, and 
the show of more resolution than we actually pos- 
sessed, the guide consented to proceed, and led the 
way up this " valley of the shadow of death ;" which, 
with the surrounding hillocks, was reeking like a 
smothered furnace, through a surface as black as the 
coals. 

Mounting the ridge on the left, and walking in the 
soft ashes of which it is composed, we reached the 
conical hill, or " mouth," as the guide called it, and 
here saw the first mark of former footsteps, in the deep 
volcanic sand and ashes. The wind was so light, that 
it was safe to approach to the very edge of the abyss, 
and to stand so near the precipice as almost to reach 
the column of white smoke with our hands : but un- 
fortunately, it was so dense that we could scarcely see 
three feet beyond. 

This spot is more than six thousand feet above the 
Bay of Naples, which, with its irregular shores, here 
crowded with inhabitants, and there encumbered with 
ruined cities ; the fertile campagna scattered with 
white cottages; and the Appenines, whose most. dis- 
tant peaks were in Calabria and Apulia, presented at 
once a rich banquet to the eye and to the mind. By 
so gentle a swell does the mountain rise from the 
plain, that it is considered to be thirty miles in circuit 



^g /NAPLES— VESUVIUS. 

at the base ; and from this spot we could see the 
seven^l courses which the lava has taken at different 
eruptions. Portici on the west side, and on the mar- 
gin of the water, stands over Herculaneum, and on a 
spot which probably has been overflowed by repeated 
eruptions. The guide called our attention to a cluster 
of buildings on the south-eastern side, at the distance 
of four or five miles ; and we were not a little grati- 
fied to learn that they belonged to Pompeii. For a 
great distance around them, we saw but a few solitary 
cottages; and this old city had been dug out among 
uniform acres of cultivated fields. 

Thus we were furnished with numerous objects 
of various descriptions, but all highly interesting. 
The Neapolitans compare this landscape to Paradise, 
seen from the infernal regions : but every one must 
feel his mind ennobled by such a view of the present 
and the past — the soul spurns at the magnificence of 
kings, for there are the wrecks of Roman grandeur; 
and exults at the reflection, that when Naples shall 
have sunk into ruins like Baiae, the spirit shall be 
but in its youth, and from some nobler eminence than 
this, may take a more sublime survey of an ampler 
past, and a no less boundless future. 

But we stand on dangerous ground. The hill under 
our feet has been formed within a twelvemonth, and 
like a thousand similar ones, which in turn, have risen 
and disappeared, is destined to a speedy and a tremen- 
dous destruction. Probably Vesuvius once rose to a 
perfect cone, and smoked three or four hundred feet 
above us : nay, it is supposed that Monte Somma 
itself, which shows the bend of a concentric circle 
immeasurably greater, raised the summit far higher, 
before the destruction of Herculaneum. We turned 
to descend, when an explosion was heard under our 



^ NAPLES— VESUVIUS. 37 

feet, from that lake of fire far below, to which the lava 
we had seen was but a rill; and the sounds re-echoed as 
if the whole mountain had been hollow. Our descent 
commenced very speedily, and it was hardly neces- 
sary to step at all — our feet ploughing a trench in the 
loose ashes, as we slid down without exertion, till 
we reached the dismal valley, having had repeatedly 
to empty our shoes of the ashes, which in some places 
were hot enough to scorch our feet, if they sunk 
deeper than usual. The surface around us was here 
and there covered with sulphur, and various salts, 
white, red, and yellow, which sometimes spread over 
a quarter of an acre like a coat of snow. 

When we arrived at the brow of the great cone, we 
chose a narrow stripe of soft ashes, on the edge of a 
stream of lava which had flowed down a few weeks be- 
fore, and thus descended with ease and great rapidity. 
In a few minutes we reached the spot where we had 
dismounted, but could not at first perceive either 
of our animals, because they were so nearly the 
colour of the rocks. At the Hermitage, the re- 
mainder of our party were regaling themselves, at 
an old marble table under the trees, served by the 
master of ceremonies, and we felt happy at being 
restored again to society. As soon as the old man 
perceived our approach, he hastened to help us dis- 
mount, rebuking us gently for undertaking so arduous 
an enterprise, led off our mules, and then returned to 
conduct us to a seat in the shade ; and filling our 
glasses in sight of the whole bay of Naples, drank 
to our safe return, and to the memory of Nisita. 

A party of peasants were collected at a little 
distance, with a store of dainties they had brought 
with them. They were arrayed in their gayest 
clothes, and most splendid ornaments, and excited 



3g NAPLES.— VESUVIUS. 

our wonder with their odd combinations of round, 
stupid faces, gaudy colours, short persons, long 
waists, crucifixes, ear-rings, and quaint devices ; 
which, when Mattia perceived, he insisted on bring- 
ing us nearer, and introd uced all round. The peasants, 
in spite of the surprise which this occasioned, 
received us with that urbanity which seems wrought 
by nature into the composition of the Italians, and 
heard with a full relish the sarcastic descriptions 
he saw fit to subjoin to each of our names. 

"Two brother hermits, saints by trade," made 
their appearance at the call of Mattia, with their 
large limbs and full-fed bodies wrapped in brown 
frocks, their shorn heads covered with hoods or 
cowls, crucifixes at their breasts, knotted Cords 
about their waists, and — small kegs of red wine in 
their hands. But it was our bill that was now de- 
manded : for we were all mounted, and our purse- 
bearer had begun to handle his ducats and carlines. 
He soon saw fit to question the justice of their de- 
mands, and a dispute ensued which was rather un^ 
canonical, whether the subject be considered, or the 
warmth of the holy men. The Italian words " vino," 
and " argento," [wine, and the root of all evil,] were 
all that we could well comprehend, till Mattia coolly 
desired us to proceed without him, while he unbur- 
thened his soul. This he did in a full and unrestrained 
torrent of abuse and curses, loaded without remorse 
on the astonished hermits, calling them mock-saints, 
rogues, cheats, wine-bibbers ; and then throwing them 
some money with the utmost disdain, and crying that 
he hoped to be delivered for ever from such devils 
in brown jackets, he shrugged his shoulders so as 
to hide his ears, uttered a groan which was audi- 
ble at the distance of several rods, fi:ave his mule 



NAPLES— VESUVIUS. g^ 

a hollow bang with his club, and came hurrying 
down hill as if there had been a new eruption of 
the mountain. 

During the remaining part of the descent, our atten- 
tion was divided between the prospect below and the 
perverse tricks of our horses, donkies and mules ; for 
many of them were outrageously stubborn, and did 
despite to the nautical science of our friends, and set 
at naught all the rules of navigation. " It is of no 
use," complained one, " to crowd sail on this crazy 
old hulk, it only deadens her head-way and makes her 
uneasy ;" another proposed " that his ship should be 
hauled down and condemned ;" a third, who had 
broken the rope that suspended his left stirrup, "hove 
to to set up his larboard rigging ;" while another still 
complained that, though he had been to sea off and 
on for fifteen years, he had "never been aboard such 
a craft" in his life. She was so " by the head she 
would pitch bows under" — She was " an unsafe boat 
— wouldn't mind her helm when it was hard up." Nay, 
she had several times " broached-to, and got stern- 
way on her." 

At length we reached the house where we were to 
dine ; and having mounted the stair-case, which like 
the house, and indeed like all Portici, was built of 
brown lava, we entered the dining-room, and after hav- 
ing been supplied with wash-bowls filled from pitchers 
of an antique form, and towels clean, though coarse, 
we sat down to dine under the approving smiles of 
half a dozen heathen gods and goddesses, that looked 
calmly down from the old oil pictures on the walls. 
Each plate was supplied with a napkin, a small loaf 
of bread, and a bottle of Vesuvian wine. A soup 
made of maccaroni was first set before us ; then 
boiled and roasted meatswere brought on in succes- 

12 



90 NAPLES.— HERCULANElfM. 

sion, but in such small quantities, and at such distances 
that the Yankees would probably have been as well 
content with a simpler meal and a more liberal sup- 
ply. It was impossible however to beat out of the 
Italian fashion, either the cook or the waiters, and we 
proceeded as we might, while the whole family stood 
by, heartily amused at our language, and at seeing us 
use both knife and fork at once. After dinner, some- 
thing was set before us like a sallad, which our master 
of ceremonies hailed in high glee, as a delicacy he 
had long desired : but it was disgustingly sweet, 
and proved to be nothing but the stalks of fennel ! 
Oranges, nuts, a better wine and rosoglio having 
been discussed, and our teeth being almost broken and 
our mouths sweetened with half a dozen sorts of con- 
fections, we expressed a wish to Mattia, which we 
desired him to translate to his friends, the master of 
the house and one or two others who were beside him 
at table. It purported that, whereas we had now con- 
formed with such scrupulosity, to the ancient and 
respected customs of Italy, we craved permission to 
drink a glass of wine after the fashion of our own 
country, and give the health of Mattia and his friends. 
The Italians, with their characteristic shrewdness and 
warmth of feeling, instantly comprehended the spirit 
of the thing, and entered into it heart and soul. 
They filled their glasses, while their dark eyes bright- 
ened with pleasure, and drank "I Americani e la loro 
patria," [to the Americans and their country.] 

Naples. — January 22. Our Neapolitan companion^ 
who begins to see how little real comfort is to be 
expected by an old man of sixty, from executing such 
laborious plans as we have laid, took an early oppor- 
tunity this morning, to enter his protest against our 
scheme. Like all his countrymen, rich and poor, his 



NAPLES— HERCULANEUM. 9| 

heart is bound up in Naples; and though he feels 
proud of the scenery, and the remains of antiquity in 
the neighbourhood, he loves them principally as the 
scenes of past pleasures. He submitted therefore to 
our consideration a plan for all future excursions, in 
which there was more comfort than curiosity, and 
more wine and rosoglio than ruined cities and melan- 
choly reflections : but we are in haste to leave Naples 
before the approach of the Austrian army, which is 
said to be already on its march, and have reluctantly 
rejected it. He promises to see us occasionally, 
though he says nothing further of his Vesuvian gar- 
den, which has either passed into the hands of others, 
or was the fair creation of his own fancy, intended 
only to amuse us with pleasant hopes. 

The weather being fine, and our party reduced to 
four, we took an early breakfast at a coffee-house, 
according to the Neapolitan fashion, and set out about 
sun-rise for Herculaneum and Pompeii, or as they are 
called by the moderns, Ercolano and Pompeia. Our 
road, as yesterday, lay along the shore to Resina ; and 
there a beggar boy led us to a small house where the 
" custode," or keeper, was at breakfast. He came out 
in an old military dress, wiping his mouth, and with 
an obsequious bow conducted us down into a ravine, 
over which the street was built on an arch thirty or 
forty feet above; and, unlocking a wooden door, 
entered the cellar of a house, and consigned us to the 
charge of a pale, crouching, half clad man, who has 
learnt by rote a description of the objects under his 
care, which he delivers to every traveller in a whining 
tone, to us almost unintelligible and quite ludicrous. 

He took some candles in his hand, one of which he 
lighted, and preceded us down a dark stair-case, cut 
in the solid volcanic rock. In a little time the light of 



92 NAPLES.-HERCULANEUM. 

the sky broke in through a shaft which was dug in 
1711, for a well, and by means of which the buried 
city was discovered. The workmen dug up the pieces 
of a beautiful marble pavement, but the surrounding 
rock was so hard that the excavations were not begun 
till some years after. It is well known that many 
houses and several temples, forums, a theatre, &c. 
have been discovered, from which statues, columns, 
pictures, and papyri, or ancient books, have been re- 
moved and deposited in places of safety. 

Several Roman historians had mentioned the de- 
struction of certain cities, which were overwhelmed 
during a terrible eruption of Vesuvius, and the first 
on record, in the year 79, under the reign of the 
emperor Titus : but the situations of them all had 
been only conjectured before the accidental dis- 
covery of Herculaneum. Unfortunately, there were 
very few objects brought to light of sufficient real 
value to tempt any farther researches through streets 
and buildings completely filled with solid rock ; and 
the work has not only been abandoned, but, for fear 
the pressure above should prove too great for the 
diminished support, every part, except the theatre, has 
been filled up. 

The guide continued to descend. — "That step," 
said he, "is modern: the next is ancient. We are 
now in the theatre, and descending the flight of steps 
which leads to the middle of the theatre, ft was ori- 
ginally cased with marble : but nothing is left except 
these fragments," he added, lowering his light, and 
picking up bits for us to put into our pockets. 

On account of the hardness of the surrounding rock, 
a large part of the building is still imbedded, and only 
the principal passages are accessible. We saw the 
curve of the long seats which rise behind each other 



NAPLES.-HERCULANEUM. 9^ 

in semicircles, walked through the arched corri- 
dors beneath them, bending in the same manner. A 
narrow path has been hewn out before the marble 
seats of the musicians, who occupied the front of the 
stage : we ascended to the elevated seats of the con- 
suls, from which two equestrian statues have been re- 
moved ; and examined with surprise the three doors of 
this noble structure, which are of most beautiful archi- 
tecture, and cased with coloured marble, still smooth 
to the touch, and shining to the light of our candles, 
which were raised on poles to show the height of the 
arches. An ancient bronze mask was found in one 
place, and we saw in the solid rock the impression it 
had left. 

We would gladly have remained here for hours, lost 
in the interesting reflections so natural in such a place, 
and entirely forgetful of the world above us, (except, 
indeed, when the sound of a coach on the pavement, 
overhead, roused us for a moment,) for even the mono- 
tonous rehearsal of the guide worked like magic, when 
he told us that through this place the most honourable 
citizens used to proceed to their seats ; by these steps 
the rabble used to crowd to their more elevated 
places, all eager for the dramas acted here so many 
centuries ago; that this window, which, though now 
filled with lava, once lighted the arched passage, and 
looked towards Vesuvius — and from that, the eyes of 
men had ranged over the harbour of Herculaneum, 
the bay of Naples, and the surrounding country, 
covered with population, and magnificently adorned 
with the structures of ancient times. 

But we had a long and laborious excursion still be- 
fore us, and dismissing such thoughts with a secret 
promise that we would indulge ourselves with another 
visit to this interesting place, we rose again to the un- 



94 



NAPLES— POMPEII. 



welcome light of day, and soon changed the sublime 
silence of Herculaneum for the disgusting noise of 
cicerone and custode begging for a larger gratuity. 
As we remounted our carozza, we were besieged by 
a whole mob of ragged men and boys, some of whom 
begged most clamorously, and others urged us to hire 
the ragged animals they had brought along with them. 
At Portici we were so beset, that the coachman found 
much difficulty in proceeding ; and hearing a shouting 
behind, we saw many more hastening on, with long 
poles, a score or two of animals, which seemed to be 
emblems of the multiplied distresses to which their 
kind is liable. The coachman plied his whip, and 
we had for a short time to contest the honours of a 
race against the most ignoble competitors. 

A short ride brought us to Torre del Greco, a vil- 
lage which has been swept away nine times by erup- 
tions of the mountain, and exposed by the nature of 
the ground to every succeeding one. Soon after we 
entered the town, the tall white houses on both sides, 
built of volcanic stone, and compacted like the closest 
city, suddenly gave place to a waste, a mile in diame- 
ter, where no object was to be discerned above 
the uniform surface of black lava. It reached on 
the left, far up the mountains, and on the right, to 
the neighbouring shore of the bay, where it disap- 
peared under water. The houses which stood on the 
verge of the current were burnt within, and had 
nothing left but walls, while those next them, like 
almost the whole village, had been borne away by the 
irresistible mass of melted lava, and left not a single 
remnant in sight. The road now runs across this solid 
pavement, several feet above the former one ; and as 
we proceeded we could not discover a vestige of a 
building — every thing was the same black and porous: 



NAPLES.— POMPEII. 95 

stone we saw yesterday. Probably the very materials 
of which the houses were constructed were melted, 
and swelled the torrent : for every rock and every 
pebble, the sand and the soil, are all vocanic. Nay, 
the particles which form the vegetable productions, 
have proceeded from the crater of Vesuvius, and the 
bodies of men must necessarily be composed of the 
same materials; to which certain philosophers have 
very sagely referred the fire of their tempers, and the 
smoke of their threats and promises. Men of common 
sense have often wondered at the unaccountable follj 
of those who inhabit places peculiarly exposed to 
danger, and the people of this very village have long 
been notable for the blindest confidence in volcanos, 
hurricanes, and earthquakes, after they have repeat- 
edly ruined their ancestors and themselves. Yet it 
seems that the total destruction of nine villages is no 
reason why nine more may not be destroyed; and 
many proprietors have gone gravelj to work to ascer- 
tain their old limits, and enclose, with loose walls, 
yards and gardens of lava. We had no time to exa- 
mine the law of the land concerning taxes : but it is 
probable a clause might be found, suspending for a 
term the ground rent of a tract buried by an erup- 
tion, as the lava of 1794 is as barren as ever, after 
having lain fallow t ear forty years. 

Leaving the neighbourhood of the bay, and turning: 
off to the left, to keep near the base of Vesuvius, we 
soon found ourselves restored to the fertihty of the 
vast plain, which stretches off on three sides to the 
Appennines. The land is so low as to make it neces- 
sary that the road should be raised on a causey, and 
we looked down on a thousand little square fields dug 
up in ridges for the purpose of draining, and planted 
with vegetables for the Naples market. The utmost 



96 NAPLES.— POMPEII. 

care and skill were shown by the gardeners, in the 
good order and flourishing condition of every thing : 
the soil is almost jet black, and the plants were singu- 
larly placed, so as to grow from one side of the ridge. 
This beautiful scene extended for a mile or more on 
both sides, occasionally varied by a vineyard with its 
tall trees and high festoons, and then gave place to 
extensive fields of wheat, and pasture land. 

An unfrequented road at length turned off toward 
the left, and after a short ride, on the level of the 
plain, we saw a gentle elevation before us about thirty 
feet high, extending to the right and left, a mile and 
a half, and covered with tall trees and vines. The 
path wound to the right, and passed along just at 
the base, where was a large hillock of earth, evi- 
dently heaped up by art; and the next instant we 
caught a glimpse behind of the place whence it had 
been removed, and the walls of twenty or thirty small 
brick buildings^ which had been dug out of the hill. 
" Stop !" we cried, rising up eagerly, " it is Pompeii !" 
" Gentlemen," said the coachman, in a pacifying tone, 
and so coolly as almost to make us ashamed, " have a 
little patience. You may trust me to take you to the 
proper place to begin your examination of this ancient 
city : for there is not a public coachman in Naples, 
who is ignorant of one of all those places, in which 
the strangers who resort hither every winter take such 
interest." 

We drove on therefore, a short distance farther, 
and having passed several great mounds of earth, 
stopped under a wall of red brick, so fresh and so 
like a modern one, with white cement which seemed 
to have been laid scarce ^ve years, that we could 
hardly believe it ancient. A cicerone offered his ser- 
vices ; and unlocking a modern door through the wall, 



NAPLES.— POMPEII. 97 

while our eyes were aching with curiosity, stepped 
into a small room, through which he led us into a large, 
open, oblong piece of ground, surrounded on all sides 
with rows of low buildings opening with broad doors, 
and in front of which was an interrupted line of 
broken columns. This was a forum — a public square, 
but whether intended for assemblies of the people, or 
a market, is uncertain, because the Romans made them 
all on the same plan ; though the small buildings 
around it, which look like shops, countenance the latter 
supposition. Pompeii, as well as Herculaneum, was 
deeply buried by the showers of sand and ashes which 
descended from the clouds during the eruption of the 
mountain : but Herculaneum was afterward flooded 
with a river of hot water, which converted the whole 
mass into a solid rock of cement; and it is conjectured 
that a quantity of lava subsequently flowed over it, by 
the heat of which those ancient books, or papyri, 
lately discovered, were converted into charcoal, and 
rendered imperishable. Pompeii, on the contrary, 
was found imbedded in ashes so loose as to be easily 
removed with a spade, and about one third of the low 
hill which contains it has been dug away, and a number 
of streets and some hundreds of buildings are opened 
again to the sun. 

It was easy to account for the disappearance of the 
roofs, which had been crushed in by the superincum- 
bent weight: "but how," we inquired, "have these 
columns been all removed or broken ?" for many frag- 
mients of columns and friezes lay in heaps in the cor- 
ners. " They were thrown down," replied the cice- 
rone, " by an earthquake which happened several 
years before the destruction of the city ;" and these 
fragments were collected here when Tiberius was 
emperor of Rome, by the Pompeians themselves, who 

13 



9B NAPLES.-P0MPE1L 

were preparing for a new colonnade, and little thought 
the nineteenth century would look on their work and 
find it unfinished. 

Adjoining the forum are two theatres — the tragic 
and the comic, the access to which is through vaulted 
passages, intended to conduct the spectators to the 
piazzas of the forum, when the performance was 
interrupted by a shower. They are built on the same 
plan as that of Herculaneum, though much smaller 
and far less splendid. Fifteen rows of seats rise 
behind each other in semicircles, supported on the 
outside by a wall of the same curve forty ieet high, and 
internally by four tiers of arches which form the cor- 
ridors, or passages leading to every part of the build- 
ing. The involved plan on which these passages 
are arranged, often brings the stranger abruptly to a 
stair-case or a dark and narrow door, when he least 
expects or wishes it ; but every spectator was pro- 
vided with an ivory ticket, marked with three or four 
numbers, which corresponded with the Roman letters 
over the passages, and conducted him without con- 
fusion to his proper seat. On the steps and floors, 
which were both of hewn stone, we frequently noticed 
places much worn down by the feet of our ancient pre- 
decessors, particularly among the upper parts, and in 
places where the vulgar, to whom they were devoted, 
had often crowded to witness some interesting exhibi- 
tion. The door-posts leading to the upper seats also 
bore the marks of much crowding and leaning- On 
the other side of the theatre is a high and straight 
wall, at the foot of which is the stage, with a semicir-^ 
cular space, or arena, in front, for the occasional ex- 
hibition of wrestling. The lower seats were for the 
most honourable citizens, while the musicians sat just 
before them, and the consuls occupied elevated plat- 



NAPLES.— POMPEII. 99 

forms above the doors, which open on each side of the 
arena. 

Turning round, we looked down from the height of 
about forty feet upon a great many small, unroofed 
buildings, crowded confusedly together, and inter- 
rupted here and there with an open space, or a kw 
broken columns. Just below, on the right, a narrow 
lane ran by the wall of the theatre, and at a short 
distance turned suddenly to the left, and was soon lost 
in the city. 

Our guide begged us not to loiter : telling us we had 
yet so much to see, and objects of such superior impor- 
tance, that we should thank him for having hastened 
us on. He led us therefore into the street, which is 
the Consular Way. It is only about fifteen feet wide, 
with side-walks of a foot and a half more on each side, 
and is lined with buildings of a single story. We 
eagerly inquired whether every thing we saw wa& 
really ancient — whether the houses had not been 
repaired, and whether the deep ruts in the large 
stones of the pavement, had not been worn by modern 
carriages. He requested that we would have a 
little patience, promising to tell us everything: but 
first we were to go, if we pleased, to the Amphi- 
theatre. As he spoke we turned to the right, into 
another street, and came to a spot where the double 
line of buildings entered the side of a sandy bank and 
disappeared, for here was the limit of the excavations. 
Having scrambled up we found ourselves in a vineyard, 
with a path winding before us till it disappeared among 
tall and leafless trees, the campagna on the right, and 
Vesuvius on the left. The scene appeared to have 
assumed an aspect of peculiar gloom, since we had 
been in Pompeii, and could realize that two-thirds of 
a city lay buried below. 



100 NAPLES.— POMPEII. 

A walk of a mile brought us to the eastern extre- 
mity of the mound, after we had seen a few farm- 
houses at a distance through the trees ; and here a 
street with its houses emerged from a broken bank. 
At thirty yards distance, on the right hand, stood a 
large oval structure of hewn stone, with three arched 
entrances opening upon the street. We had hardly 
stepped within the threshold when we heard a noise 
from the interior, very loud and confused, which seem- 
ed to proceed from a number of persons stamping or 
clapping their hands. As we proceeded through a 
dark arched passage, we began to see the rows of seats 
on the opposite side of the house, which rise behind 
each other like those of a theatre, but form a complete 
oval, of such a size that the flat ground in the middle, 
which was devoted to games and battles, is eighty-four 
steps in length. Nobody was yet to be seen, though 
the sounds continued till we stepped on the soft sand, 
when they suddenly ceased ; and on looking round, the 
whole arena was clear, and we were alone in the am- 
phitheatre. We had heard but the echoes of our foot- 
steps ; and when we spoke, our words were repeated 
distinctly on the opposite side. It was no deception, 
for our words were justly pronounced whether in 
Italian or English. 

The building may be compared to two theatres 
united : and the ascent is in the same manner, by steps 
leading to long corridors, which are numbered and 
communicate with every part. As in the tragic theatre, 
the marble casings have been removed, and the upper 
parts of the wall are decayed : but one may mount to j 
many places with ease, looking out upon the campagna 
from the windows of the corridors, seat himself on the 
short turf which bears the shape of the old rows of 
benches, and recal with interest the scenes which 



NAPLES.— POMPEII. IQl 

passed in the arena so long ago, while Vesuvius, the 
destroyer and the preserver of Pompeii, is seen oppo- 
site, throwing up columns of smoke. 

In the arched passage by which we entered and left 
the Amphitheatre, are shown several small dungeons, 
in which it is probable wild beasts were kept for the 
shows, and in the door-post of one of them, an iron 
staple still remains. 

Having gratified our curiosity at this place, and 
entered a few of the neighbouring buildings, probably 
shops, which were very small, and entirely empty, we 
eagerly returned by the way we had come, and a 
deep melancholy seized us as we descended again 
into the city of the dead. The narrow Consular Way, 
paved with heavy stones, in which deep ruts were 
worn by ancient wheels, and lined with small shops, 
built close together, led on before us about fifty 
yards, and then turned to the left and was lost. The 
side- walks were made of bits of marble, and other 
stones of all colours, laid in a hard cement, and worn 
perfectly smooth by the feet of the old inhabitants, 
but they were very narrow, and every thing about us 
was on a most diminutive scale. There was not a single 
window, yet every door was open, which gave an air 
of hospitality to the town : but when we entered, we 
found the roofs gone, no furniture to be seen, and 
nothing but the remains of a fire-place raised two or 
three feet from the floor, or a few earthen jars. 

A little way from the street on the left side, is the 
Temple of Isis, which occupies an oblong piece of 
ground, open above, and surrounded by rows of plas- 
tered columns. An inscription which was found here, 
but has since been removed, purports that the temple 
was ruined by the earthquake before mentioned, and 
rebuilt by Numerius Popidius Celsinus. On one side 



1 02 NAPLES.— POMPEII. 

is an altar for burning victims, and on the other that 
for receiving the ashes, a quantity of vi'hich were 
found on digging it out. The sanctuary, at the farther 
end, is ascended bj seven steps, where the great altar 
is seen, faced by a vestibule with six beautiful columns, 
and ornamented with a picture in Mosaic. This was 
one of the principal temples of the city ; and here 
were found the skeletons of several priests. 

Near this place is the tribunal — a small square with 
a pulpit on one side, surrounded with twenty fluted 
columns; and just beyond is the great tragic theatre, 
already described. There is an inscription which 
mentions the rebuilding of it, together with " the tri- 
bunal, the public fountain, and the water channels." 

The public fountain is a large reservoir close at 
hand, under which have been discovered several con- 
duits branching off to the lower parts of the city: for 
this spot is a little elevated. 

Beyond, the ground rises gradually to a gentle hill, 
with a precipitous termination towards the south. 
The top is occupied by a ruinous temple of Grecian 
architecture, and near it is the grand portico — a 
spacious triangle on the brow of the hill, with the wall 
of the tragic theatre on the left, and a row of fifty-six 
columns on the right. From this airy spot the view 
ranges over the neighbouring parts of the campagna„ 
and of the Bay of Naples, the opposite mountains and 
several distant villages, and towns, and villas. In all 
probability, the base of this sandy and stony hill was 
jformerly washed by the sea: for Pompeii was an im- 
portant sea-port, though the shore is now nearly a 
mile and a half off, and the intervening plain covered 
with cultivated fields 

Close by is seen the city wall, twelve feet thick, and 
twenty feet high, this point being one extremity of 



NAPLES.— POMPEII. ] 03 

Pompeii : but retracing our steps for a short distance, 
we again found ourselves in a quiet street. Still, the 
narrow pavenaents, the ruts of small carriage-wheels, 
and the lowness of the buildings continued to strike 
us as very diminutive : for though the public buildings 
were large and even magnificent, the streets and 
houses srem intended for a race of pigmies, and quite 
unfit for Romans. 

The Consular Way crosses at right angles the street 
in which we now were walking: and, turning to tljp 
right, and passing down it some distance, you come 
to the house of a surgeon, in which more than.fiiiy 
surgical instruments were found. It consists of three 
small rooms, which, according to custom, are plas- 
tered and ornamented with pictures, in water colours. 
The Pompeians were so fond of pictures, that scarce 
a house is to be found in the city without them. It is 
well known, that all the valuable ones are removed 
as fast as they are discovered, by a very ingenious 
process, by which they are taken down and trans- 
ported to the king's palace at Portici, without the 
least injury. In these apartments however they had 
all been left untouched, and proved much more 
interesting in their original localities. They were all 
small, and one occupied the middle of each wall. 
Two of the rooms, I think, were painted with birds, 
and the other with groups, relating to the profession of 
the inhabitant, of which I can recal but one : Adonis, 
lying on a bank surrounded by Venus and her weep- 
ing nymphs, with a bloody bandage staunching his 
wound. The group was graceful ; and the colours, 
which are all metallic, were as bright as if just painted. 
In a closet was still remaining a wooden shelf, from 
which the instruments had been taken to be carried 
to the palace of studies at Naples. 



I Q4 NAPLES.— POMPEII. 

Returning from this place toward the Public Way, 
on the opposite side of the Consular Way is the shop 
of a sculptor, in which were found bits of marble, 
several busts and statues, with others half formed of 
rough blocks, and the tools with which they had been 
wrought. In some of the dwellings were found tickets 
for the theatres and amphitheatres, in the forms of birds, 
beasts, &;c. with Roman numbers answering to those of 
the doors and stair-cases ; but all these various objects 
have been removed to Portici. 

Near thi? is the Temple of Esculapius, and the in- 
tersection of the Public Way with the Consular, by 
which the city is divided into four irregular parts. 
Beyond, are the ruins of many buildings, in which 
were found some beautiful paintings and marble pave- 
ments. Next, are the houses of Marcellus, and Suet- 
tius Popidius, an edile. On the opposite side, are 
the dwellings of Caius Julius a decemvir, Kneius 
Hilarius Sabinus, and S. Fortunata. 

The mode in which the largest dwellings were built, 
is singular, but, on many accounts, the best fitted for 
the climate and situation. All, except a very few, are 
of one story, probably to guard against the effects of 
earthquakes : and the rooms are very small, I presume 
on account of the scarcity of room. According to 
their size, houses and villas contain one or more 
square courts, open above, and surrounded with piaz- 
zas, which partially protect from the weather the 
entrances to the sleeping-rooms, usually ranged 
around them by fours. Other apartments of the 
house are situated according to the taste of the 
builder : but it is easy to conjecture the uses to which , 
they were devoted by the remains of furniture, uten- 
sils, or the pictures on the walls. 

At a corner of the street is a building, with a pic- 
ture on the outside, of a serpent biting an apple, which 



NAPLES.— POMPEII. 105 

is supposed to have been the shop of an apothecary 
from this circumstance, as well as on account of the 
dry vases and pills found within. 

The villa of Julius Equanus, has a number of 
Columns surrounding the principal court-yard, which 
are painted imitations of Mosaic. 

Next to this is the villa of Julius Polybius, the his- 
torian. Here, as in the other splendid habitations we 
had seen, were courts, bed-rooms, a kitchen, and vari- 
ous other apartments, supposed to have been the par- 
lour, dining-room, and hall : but there were some 
objects of more than usual interest. In a corner of 
one of the courts, was the ancient well, guarded by a 
circular curb, cut from a solid block of marble, and 
worn inside in many deep channels made by the rub- 
bing of the bucket-ropes. Besides, in a small yard is 
a narrow bed of earth, in which herbs and flowers 
seem to have been once planted; and behind it are 
still remaining untouched, long branches of trees, and 
birds of various plumage, painted on the wall to de- 
ceive the eye. At a little distance, in a recess, is a 
triclinium, or small circular table of marble, standing 
between two long seats, made of stones and plaster, 
which slope gently outward to favour the recumbent 
posture, used by the Romans at meat. This was evi- 
dently a favourite retreat for the family, from the bus- 
tle of the city, and the warmth of the house ; and 
every thing around us spoke of seclusion and domes- 
tic enjoyment, while above us was the open sky of this 
delightful climate, and the top of Vesuvius, the de- 
stroyer, was seen at a distance throwing up volumes 
of smoke. 

Contiguous to this, and separated only by a single 
wall, is the house of Svettius Erennius, with the name 
of its ancient inhabitant written over the door. We 

14 



106 



NAPLES.-POMPEII. 



then passed'^everal other houses; and crossing the 
street, entered the door of a smith's shop, in which 
were found iron hoops, and many tools : hammers, pin- 
cers, &c. . In a shop, bejond, we saw^ a number of 
large earthen jars of antique forms, with curious 
turned handles and ears, in which oil and wine were 
kept for sale. Some of them have a dry crust within, 
the remains of these liquids. Next is the ruinous 
house of Julius Cecilius Capella, and another with the 
name of Caius Salustius, which is one of the finest 
dwellings in the city. 

Proceeding still farther along the street, we passed 
another oil and wine shop, a public fountain and re- 
servoir, long since dry, two shops where wine was. 
sold by the draught, a soap-manufactory, and the pub- 
lic weighing-office. Here were found weights of lead 
and marble, two pair of scales, and several steelyards ! 
Near by, is a baker's shop, where was a heap of w heat 
perfectly black, and converted into charcoal; with a 
loaf of bread, in the same state, which had been 
baked in a round, scalloped dish, and was marked 
with crossing lines on the top, and the brand of th^ 
maker. 

After we had thus followed our guide for a long 
time, from one place to another, he told us, that be- 
fore proceeding farther in the Consular Way, we were 
to turn off to the right, through a narrow street, td^ 
see a number of buildings lately brought to light by 
the workmen. We followed him, therefore : but, irt 
spite of all our care, we soon began to grow uncer^^ 
tain, and then perfectly bewildered, so that we could! 
not tell a single point in the whole compass. NeW 
streets and lanes, shops and villas, opened upon us at 
every turn, while the guide preceded us, with the^ 
familiarity of an inhabitant : now along a blind alleys 



rsAPLES.— POMPEII. 



107 



to shorten our walk, and now through a private house, 
and dark passages, to a breach in the garden wall. 
We often hesitated to enter so unceremoniously, 
places which had, at first, the appearance of being 
inhabited ; yet not a person was to be seen, and not a 
sound to be heard. 

A large building of two stories, lately cleared of 
earth, contains a statue of Ceres, erected by the 
bakers of Pompeii. It is much admired, and has 
been suffered to remain, with the inscription on the 
wall behind it. What followed, is a confused impres- 
sion of much that was surprising and interesting in a 
high degree, which gave the mind alternately great 
pleasure and great pain, until we came to where the 
streets and houses have been uncovered within a year 
— a month, a week; and saw fine buildings whose 
names or inhabitants have not yet been conjectured; 
rich marble columns, variegated pavements, and beau- 
tiful paintings, still untouched; and, at last, where two 
or three labourers were at work, with spade and mat- 
tock, in the loose sand hill which still entombs so large 
a part of the city. These half-clad wretches fell a 
begging as soon as we approached, though the sound 
of a voice made us shudder with an involuntary hor- 
ror: for this house had been dishumed to-day, and 
the figures on the walls seemed the men of antiquity 
just waking from the dead, and gazing on the heavens 
again, after a sleep of seventeen centuries. 

On our way back, we were still bewildered, and so 
occupied with thoughts we could not express, that 
scarce a word was spoken. We were looking at the 
very objects with which the inhabitants of this city 
were familiar, when Pompeii ranked among the cities 
of the earth — when each house was a dwelling-place, 
when these pavements rattled under the wheels of 



103 NAPLES.— POMPEn. 

coaches, and the steps of thronging men were wear- 
ing their traces in the stones. The streets with their 
lines of buildings, preserved their ancient aspect as 
unaltered as the sky above ; and the inhabitants — the 
inhabitants! were continually obtruding upon our 
thoughts. We listened to catch the sound of their 
voices, and looked anxiously in at every door. Surely 
they must be at hand. 

We entered once more the Consular Way; and the 
feet of men have worn a hollow in the side-walk by 
turning hastily round the corner. Here is the villa 
of Cicero. You gain it by a single step from the 
street, but linger unconsciously at the threshold for 
some one to bid you welcome. Your eye falls upon 
the paved floor, made of small squares of white mar- 
ble, and just before you is the Roman salutation, 
"SALVE," inlaid with black. It speaks like the 
voice of the venerable inhabitant, and you pass from 
room to room, wondering to find them all deserted. 
Here is the kitchen — ^^on one wall is painted a heap 
of dead birds, on another, pieces of flesh, there fruits 
and vegetables, and over the fire-place, which was 
raised two or three feet from the floor, are oysters, 
live eels, and other fish, of various shapes. Proceed 
to the first court — the inlaid pavement is slippery with 
frequent footsteps, the marble well-curb is marked with 
the draw-ropes of Cicero's servants. Did you not see 
the waving of a garment as some one entered yonder 
door? Follow, and see. It is his bed-chamber, and 
its walls are beautifully painted with figures of sleep- 
ing gods and goddesses. But where is the inhabitant.^ 
Perhaps in the street, at the forum, at one of the tem- 
ples, where he ofliciated as high priest. They are 
empty. At the amphitheatre, — you think you hear 
the applause of the multitude as you enter ; but the 



NAPLES.— POMPEII. |09 

arena is clear — not a solitary spectator in all those 
ranges of seats. Return. — What would you not give 
to meet a single man ? But no. It is a delusion. It 
is seventeen hundred years since this city was deserted 
by its inhabitants. And such a flight! What tumult, 
what dread, what shrieks did Pompeii witness ! But 
all has passed ; and the silence of ages has settled 
upon it. And what has occurred in that time? 
The thought is insupportable — it stupifies, it over- 
whelms, yet by turns, it delights, and absorbs so en- 
tirely the mind, that every other subject is thrust out, 
and even the faculties of hearing and speech seem 
suspended. 

You forget yourself and the age you live in. Where 
am I ? It is Pompeii — the old city, which has been 
dug out of its grave—and the inhabitants ! Ah ! they 
are long since dwellers in another world, and there 
the faces are seen, and the voices heard, which you 
seek for here. Thus you reflect, and are convinced : 
there is no one here ; and at the very next corner you 
start, because the street is empty. Where are the 
people ? Hush ! it is Pompeii ! . Full of a thousand 
new thoughts, and feelings, his mouth closed, because 
it has failed to express them; the traveller wanders 
on from object to object, and stares wildly round him, 
as if he had just opened his eyes on a new world, and 
hardly deemed himself awake. " 1 shall have nothing 
more to desire," he says, " I have lived a whole life 
to-day. Antiquity has stood before me like an ill- 
formed dream — it is now reality, i stand, I move 
among the men of old times. They aire not shadows, 
the indistinct visions presented by the imagination, 
when we would recal our predecessors back to this 
world : not the confused multitude in the back-ground 
^f a picture, where a single dash of the pencil makes 



I IQ NAPLES.— POMPEIL 

a score of things you would fain call men : but human 
beings, each possessed of a peculiar look, and voice, 
and air; with an object, a character, and interests of 
his own. Now you are surprised at the mist through 
which you have always seen antiquity. History 
changes at once from the cold, dull words of a moth- 
eaten volume, to the livehness of a speaking voice ; 
and her children have lost the dead and stony gaze 
of a marble statue : the blood flies through their 
v^ins, and they turn upon you with moving eyes and 
speaking lips. But this is not all : we feel superior 
to history herself, and proud at enjoying privileges of 
which she would have boasted. She has instructed 
us with a parrot's tongue in the deeds of the great 
men of ancient times : but we are admitted like asso- 
ciates into their houses. We converse with them, we 
feel with them ; we look from their doors, and through 
their eyes, upon their world. Nay, we mingle with 
their friends and a thousand of their cotemporaries, 
who have been forgotten, because not a papyrus in 
Pompeii bears their names. 

The scholar may range through an ancient world of 
his own, which he has formed in his study of the men 
whom partial history has enrolled for immortality : 
but, in the streets of Pompeii, we mix with the sub- 
jects of Rome : the objects of her laws, the materials 
of her empire ; part of that world for whose applause 
great deeds were undertaken by her soldiers, and 
even by her emperors : a mass of those beings on 
whom the philosopher, the statesman, the poet re- 
flected, and based their own peculiar systems. All her 
long boasted wisdom history now resigns, and humbly 
places herself at our feet for instruction : for we are 
familiar with things of which she doubted the exist- 
ence ; and those of which she formed the wildest con- 
jectures, we see and handle. 



NAPLES— POMPEII. 1 1 1 

But would you escape to some retirement, to indulge 
at leisure in reflections on some few and definite ob- 
jects? Step in at this open door — go on to one of the 
most secluded apartments. This is the home of a 
happy family. Mark their faces — these are not the 
bold, harsh lines of Roman physiognomy, nor the 
classic, but inexpressive features of a Grecian statue ; 
but the looks, the expressions with which we have 
been familiar, such as exist in our world, traits which 
remind us of our friends. Here is one surrounded by 
a circle of her children, the centre of which is to her 
the most blessed spot on earth. This house once 
bounded her affections — yes, this apartment, so long 
deserted and forgotten, and now exposed to the sun 
and the rain, this apartment was seventeen hundred 
years ago the home of a family. A thousand delight- 
ful things were once associated in the minds of its 
inhabitants with this neglected place, with the seclu- 
sion of this retreat, with these very pictures on the 
walls. Can you tell how much it interests you to 
stand in the midst of them, and to take a view of the 
world from their peaceful hearth ? There is some- 
thing irresistibly affecting in the solemn silence of 
this place, when you think of it as the peaceful abode 
of persons, who were alive to more amiable affections 
than the love of fame — who regarded the deeds of 
Rome, not as they promoted the glory of the empire, 
and triumphed over subjugated nations, but as they 
touched the happiness of friends, and blasted the 
hopes of parents. 

Whoever has a father, let him remember the head 
of this house. Who has a mother he loves ? Here 
was once such a woman ; yes, in this spot. Do you 
not recognise in her manner, her smile, her eye, all 
that is amiable in an affectionate mother of modern 



112 NAPLES— POMPEII. 

times? Centuries, indeed, have passed away; but 
the human features, as well as the human character^ 
are essentially the same. Look at that picture on the 
wall ; smiles and tears were known in Pompeii. Are 
you a husband ? Here lived a husband, the father of a 
family. This apartment was not always empty : it was 
arranged and garnished like your own home, by a 
woman who drew her happiness from his approbation 
and love. In this place, he found such domestic peace 
and happiness as attach you to your home, and make 
you love to live. But where has he gone ? Vou are 
told his life is an antiquated, a long forgotten tale; 
that there is no trace of him on earth. Nay, did I not 
hear his voice in the next apartment ? No — the roof 
is gone, nothing is seen above but the sky. The truth 
returns upon you, as it were, with a staggering blow; 
this house has been untenanted for ages : its last inha- 
bitant was a Roman citizen, and he lived under the 
reign of the emperor Titus : a man who heard of the 
desolation of Judah, from captives taken fighting on 
the walls of Jerusalem, and the first glad news of 
Christianity — perchance from the mouth of Paul him- 
self Perhaps he was one of those who believed the 
wondrous tale of the resurrection ; and if so, how- 
ever humble and poor, was capable of instructing the 
wits and the statesmen of Rome. 

You remain speechless — for what can you say.^ 
You are in the cell of a magician, whose wand bears 
control over time, and rolls back past centuries, like 
clouds before the wind. A supernatural power is at 
work, producing effects which strike us with awe, and 
calling up the ghosts of antiquity, to frighten away 
our usual enjoyments. And seen from this place, how 
does the present world appear? A mass of the bones 
and ashes of men; a melancholy shore, which the 



NAPLES.— POMPEII. 



113 



waves of time have strewed with the wrecks of nations, 
and heaps of broken sceptres. 

There is too much of distress in the scene. — Let us 
pass on. — Nay, stop ! This is the place where men 
should meditate; here a monarch would find a reproof 
for his pride, and despise the tinsel of his crown : for 
here the voice of death would whisper, nay, scream 
in his ear, and remind him of his mean mortality. 
This is a book of history spread out before the world : 
and who can help but read ? — Here ruin stands ; and 
while he points at antiquity, to show the spectres of 
past centuries, flitting away, and lost, and a thousand 
times forgotten, he raises the finger at the cities, the 
successors of departed Pompeii— at the world, the 
phantoms of to-day, and threatens them with a down- 
fal as complete, and an oblivion as deep and inevita- 
ble. Here months, years, and ages have sunk toge- 
ther in silence, like the waves of the ocean in a whole 
climate of calms: here time has left his glass un* 
turned, for seventeen hundred years. 

No man ever visited this place for the first time, 
without considering that day an era in his life. It 
opens channels of thought, and sources of serious 
reflection, as well as of high enjoyment, which can 
never be exhausted. Pompeii surfeits curiosity with 
painful heaps of novelties. The ears, the eyes, all 
the passages of sense, are choked ; and leisure and 
seclusion are eagerly sought, to arrange and preserve 
the precious hoards of knowledge. 

A traveller once exclaimed that he had been into 
the quarry of antiquity, and dug out history like blocks 
of marble ; and added, that he should spend his life 
in reflecting on what he had seen, and in rejoicing 
that he had reached there, even if he had reduced 
himself to poverty in performing it : for there were 

15 



] ] 4 NAPLES.— POMPEII. 

mental riches there to be obtained, with which all 
the gems of the world are not fit to be compared, and 
without which a monarch would be a beggar. '^ They 
will ask me," said he, " why I am thoughtful — why I am 
not cheerful like other men. I will point to Pompeii, 
and remain silent. Pompeii is an answer to every 
question, and propounds questions which the world 
cannot answer." 

We returned again towards the Consular Way, whe- 
ther by the route we had come or not, was a matter of 
doubt; but at length reaching a corner, where a little 
hollow was worn in tbe side-walk, by the feet of the 
ancient passengers, we recognized some of the dwell- 
ings and shops already particularly mentioned. On 
the left we examined the ruins of a block of large 
houses, of which little more than the cellars are now 
to be seen; and these are upon a steep declivity, so 
that we descended into them by broken stair-cases of 
stone. The ground beyond is now cultivated; and 
the bay, I think, was hidden from us by the trees, 
although it seems incontestable that this was the 
margin of the port. In spite of the grass and shrubs 
with which the walls are much overgrown, enough 
may still be seen in the size and solidity of the build- 
ings, the broad stair cases and doors, to prove that they 
were devoted to the reception and storing of mer- 
chandize in large quantities; and in one place is a 
ring-bolt fixed in a wall, intended either to assist in 
raising heavy articles, or for fastening small vessels to 
the shore. 

The remaining part of tbe street is lined with such 
little shops as have been spoken of before, with only 
a few buildings of different descriptions. In one of 
the former, which is supposed to have been a money- 
changer's, was a jar half full of gold coins, which is 



NAPLES.— POMPEII. j ] 5 

the only money yet found in the city. " Had not the 
inhabitants had time to remove all their money and 
jewels," remarked our new guide, " all Pompeii 
would have been laid open long ago." On the 
marble sill of another shop, we saw a small circle 
worn in and stained, which is generally taken for the 
mark of the cups in which wine was sold to pas- 
sengers. What I have here called a window, served 
indeed the purposes of one, but was thrown into one 
general opening with the door, not divided even by a 
post. 

One of the city gates was now in sight before us ; 
and near it is a building with a wide door, supposed 
to have been a place where carriages were mended 
and let. On another house is an inscription, which, if 
rightly translated, indicates a state of public manners 
and feelings, more corrupt than we would fain attri- 
bute even to the ancient worshippers of the Roman, 
Grecian, and Egyptian gods. Such a religious system, 
however, as thej were taught to believe and practice, 
must have effects ; and those effects must inevitably 
be opposed to the fundamental laws of a virtuous and 
well regulated society. In fact, so far from being sur- 
prised at such proofs as Pompeii and Herculaneum 
have furnished, of the moral degradation of the 
ancients, a little reflection makes us wonder at our- 
selves for not suspecting them before. 

The city gate is a solid structure of hewn stone, 
thirty or forty feet high, connected with the wall, which 
is partly dug out. It was formerly the only passage on 
this side, and stands over the Consular Way, the road to 
Naples and Puteoli, the latter of which is about thirty 
miles distant. This ancient road is supposed to con- 
tinue, with few important interruptions, at the present 
day, as it has been discovered in several places 
beneath the surface. Immediately after passing the 



II Q NAPLES.— POMPEII . 

the gate, a new set of objects present themselves : d 
long range of tombs on each side, generally built of 
white marble, and in excellent preservation, as well as 
of an imposing size and great beauty. One of them 
particularly was of so pure a white, and retained all 
the marks of the chissel with such freshness, that we 
could hardly credit the guide, when he said it was not 
a recent work. The almost total want of inscriptions 
left much of our curiosity ungratified ; for their cost- 
liness, together with the manner in which they were 
elevated from the street, showed very plainly that 
rival families had vied with each other in their con- 
struction. One of them is supposed to have been 
built for gladiators killed at the public games, because 
it has sculptured weapons upon its outer wall; but 
that in which our friend the captain seemed to feel the 
warmest interest, was the tomb of a sailor. It was 
about twenty feet square, and perhaps of the same 
height, accessible as usual from the street, by a 
flight of steps, which are of the same snow-white 
marble as the structure itself A little walled 
passage leads round it on three sides, from one of 
which we looked, through a grate, into a small cham- 
ber with three niches, one of which contained an 
ancient glass vase, partly filled with human bones and 
ashes. At some distance from the ground, is carved 
a Roman galley, with a long latteen yard, apparently 
rigged on the same plan with the boats now used in 
the bay of Naples. 

The road soon brought us to the remains of a large 
building on the right, which is supposed to have been 
a custom house for articles from the country, or a toll 
house for those who passed the gate. The skeletons 
of horses were found collected about stone posts, to 
which they had been tied. This countenances the 
©pinion that a toll was to be paid, which would pro- 



NAPLES.— POMPEII. 117 

bably induce strangers to leave their horses outside. 
It is not conclusive, however, for the house may per- 
haps have been only an inn after all. 

There remains one more villa to be seen : that of 
Marcus Arrius Diomedes, one of Cicero's friends. 
It stands among a few other ruins, which formed the 
village known by the name of Pagus Augustus Felix, 
and is much more spacious than those we had visited 
in the city, it enclosed a large court, which we over- 
looked in passing along an old gallery on the second 
story The cellar is built of stone and mortar, 
arched overhead, and dimly hghted by narrow slips 
or loop holes, extending round the three other sides 
of the court. Here we saw many amphorse, or jugs 
and jars of different forms, and some of them large 
enough to contain a barrel or two, some of which were 
lined with a crust — the remains of the oil and wine 
which they formerly contained. Whole rows of 
similar vessels have been removed, as well as cer- 
tain other objects of a more melancholy description, 
such as the skeletons of seventeen persons, who had 
probably sought refuge here during the fatal eruption 
of the mountain. It is to be supposed that they had 
been detained in the neighbourhood by saving their 
property, or searching for lost friends, until they were 
afraid to attempt an escape, over a region covered 
with cinders and ashes from the mountain, which had 
overspread the whole surface, with such drifts as we 
saw on our journey to the crater, and had already 
crushed in the roofs of their own or their neighbours' 
dweUings. The substantial walls of this cellar, and 
its arched roof, were admirably calculated to with- 
stand such a dangerous pressure; but they were over- 
taken by another calamity, which was as inevitable as 
unexpected. The mountain poured down a river 



123 NAPLES.— POMPEII. 

of hot water, which, although it did not enter the 
walls of Pompeii, flowed through this little village, 
and drowned the forlorn and terrified persons who 
had fled to it for safety. The neighbourhood was 
consequently covered with a hard cement, like that at 
Herculaneum ; and the bones, which were principally 
found heaped together in a corner, were thus imbed- 
ded, and protected from decay. At a little distance 
from them was the skeleton of a man, probably 
Diomedes himself, with necklaces and coins in his 
hand, and a bunch of keys, once fastened to his gir- 
dle, DOW to his bones; and behind him that of a ser- 
vant, with several vases of silver and bronze. Among 
these gloomy reliques, were the bones and jewels of 
a woman, supposed to be the mistress of this once 
magnificent edifice ; and the surrounding mass of 
indurated ashes retained the impressions it had re- 
ceive(3, from the arms and the breast of the corpse, 
although the flesh had long ago mouldered away. I 

We had now done with Pompeii and its vicinity, 
where our minds had so long been lost among the 
men and the scenes of ancient days, that for a moment 
we could hardly recollect what century we lived in^ — 
what age the world had reached : but as we passed 
out of a iittle gate, where our coachman was waiting 
for us, we were suddenly beset by a herd of beggars, 
who fairly teased us back to modern times. There 
were many reflections now returning to our minds, 
which were received as unwelcome visitants : some 
related to the fatigue we began to feel, others to 
the state of things in degraded Italy ; the worst of 
them all was the conviction, that there was now no j 
imagination in the case. Yet in some points of view ' 
the world had improved by the change ; and it was 
with a throb of exultation, that we recurred to the 



NAPLES.— PORTICr. | j g 

new world in the west : its institutions, its prosperity, 
its inhabitants. 

On our return from Pompeii, we stopped at the 
king's palace in Portici. Here are to be seen a great 
number of the pictures taken from Herculaneum, 
Pompeii and Stabiae — a third city covered by Vesu- 
vius, and now partly dug out. A large part of the 
paintings were transported to Sicily some yeai^s since, 
for fear of the French : but those which remain are 
interesting in a high degree. With such care have 
they been taken from the walls, that many of them 
are injured only by the carelessness of their ancient 
owners, or by the shaking of earthquakes. There 
are fifteen hundred and eighty in all, of various sizes 
and descriptions: and they are ranged in order around 
the walls of ten or twelve apartments. The first two 
or three contain specimens of ornamental lines, grace- 
fully drawn, and brilliantly coloured — mere flourishes, 
often delineated with the most scrupulous exactness, 
according to the principles of grace and proportion. 
Next we saw great numbers of birds and beasts ; 
then a few landscapes and pictures of buildings. 
But the largest pnrt of the collection consists of single 
figures, or groups of gods and goddesses, nymphs, and 
many other of those aerial beings, with which the 
Roman mythology is crowded. Many critics have 
taken occasion from the imperfection of these pic- 
tures, to speak lightly of the art as it existed among 
the ancients : but who would look on the plastered 
wall of a house, or even of a villa, for the painting of 
a master? It is not surprising that we should find 
haste and imperfection in this place : yet if one were 
disposed to defend the side so often attacked, he might 
speak of the permanency of these water-colours, the 
beauty of the design, in those especially which appear 



220 NAPLES.— PORTICI. 

to be copies from others of more value, and the many 
strong, masterly touches, which betray an experienced, 
though a hurried hand. 

An old man, of a very modest mien, conducted us 
through the various apartments, with something like 
the gratified air of one who has a promising family to 
bring out to his friends. He is so swallowed up in a 
long past age, that he seems hardly to have any con- 
nection with present time : but who, among ob- 
jects like these, would be content with less than an 
enthusiast.^ He is an antiquary by profession ; and I 
am more and more surprised, at the number and 
variety of the objects preserved in this vicinity, as it 
were, expressly for the pleasure of such men. 

It may easily be supposed, that so soon after going 
into Pompeii, and mingling with the ancients in the 
ordinary concerns of life, the numerous pictures of 
imaginary beings will not prove the most interesting 
to a traveller. He cares not for the gods and god- 
desses of their poets, and his attention is much drawn 
away from the statesmen, wits and heroes of their his- 
torians : he looks for men and women. The four pic- 
tures to which the " antiquary" first directed our 
attention, are the largest, and some of the finest in the 
whole collection, (two of them being six feet and a half 
high,) and were taken from an apartment of a private 
house in Herculaneum. The process by which the 
pictures are removed remains a secret ; but, by some 
means or other, the plaster is torn off from the wall, with 
such art, that even paintings of this size are not broken, 
nor anywise injured by the operation. They are indeed 
generally cracked in several places, but as they were 
so when discovered, it was probably done by the 
shaking of the walls by earthquakes. Flora, Hercules 
and a Victory occupy the first picture, but to what par- 



NAPLES.— PORTICI. 221 

ticular incident it refers is not decided. Here the 
figures are done in a dingy flesh-colour, upon a brown- 
ish red ground : and in this respect it may be given as 
a specimen of nearly the whole collection. Cleopatra 
with an asp, Theseus and the dead Minotaur, and a 
centaur learning the young Apollo music, are the three 
others. In the latter, the monster is playing the harp, 
and the beautiful boy stands gazing at him, with a coun- 
tenance expressive of the deepest attention. The- 
seus, it appears, effected the death of the Minotaur 
with a common walking-stick, hastily cut from a tree 
and cleared of its twigs. Connoisseurs discover many 
beauties in the composition and the drawing of these 
pictures, while the execution is so inferior as to make 
it probable that they are hasty copies ; and I dare say 
they might find much pleasure in standing here, and dis- 
cussing the state of the arts in Italy under the reign of 
Titus. But untaught travellers will be gratified with 
such things as introduce them more directly to the 
ancients, and to the scenes with which they were 
actually familiar. Perhaps one will no where feel 
more strongly the desire of truth, so natural to the 
mind : and fortunately he finds much to gratify him. 
These paintings have brought to light few facts of 
great import : but many minute circumstances, beneath 
the notice of history it is true, but not beneath our 
desires, and exactly what a man of common sense 
seems to require, in order that he may realize in a 
vivid manner, that his old predecessors in the world 
were beings like himself, affected in the same manner 
by similar circumstances, and driven by similar exi- 
gencies to the same expedients. He longs for some- 
thing to remove the cold reverence he feels while 
viewing them at such a distance, to take them as it 
were, by the hand, and feel if they really be flesh and 

16 



1 22 NAPLES.— PORTICr. 

blood. At Pompeii, and at the cabinet of Portici, he 
finds this something removed, and his desire fulfilled 
in a manner the most satisfactory. 

The following enumeration I made with my pencil 
on the spot^ being unwilling to trust my memory with 
such a number of particulars, in which accuracy is 
quite indispensable. — A young lady, with a fan shaped 
like a large leaf, has a very amiable expression of 
face, though her features are such as we* call ordinary, 
and her nose, so far from what we call the Roman stan- 
dard, is short, and a little turned up. I might not have 
been surprised to meet her in modern times : but how 
strange to find her living in Pompeii ! — Sappho medi-r 
tating an ode, with her stylus, which somewhat resem- 
bles a pencil, pressed to her lips. In her left hand, 
she holds her tablets: four thin, square plates, like 
ivory, tied together with a blue riband, in the form 
of a small book. — Cupid holding a parasol, which is 
shaped exactly like a modern one, and is ornamented 
in the same manner, with a fringe. — Ariadne deserted 
by Theseus. She is starting from sleep at the sound 
of his vessel passing by, part of which is represented 
on the picture, and shows two oars through the stern, 
to be used instead of a rudder. — The education of Bac- 
chus : taught to drink before he can well walk. An 
old saddle on the back of an ass, which the painter 
has introduced, might be mistaken for one of those on 
which we rode up Vesuvius. — A family at dinner. 
Here is set out a trichnium, or small round table with 
three legs, on which are three vessels, and something 
which may, perhaps, be a spoon. A girl is bringing for^ 
ward a square smoking dish, a man, on the right hand^ 
reclines upon a bench, and his wife opposite is sitting 
on a circular chair, which has no back. The bus-* 
band is drinking from a horn, which he holds at arm's 



iVAPLES.— PORTICL J23 

length, in such a manner that the liquor runs into his 
mouth. The woman is speaking to the girl, and wears 
large ear-rings, with her hair curled and dressed high 
on the top of her head. 

There is a picture of Dido deserted by Enaeas, and 
one of the introduction of the Grecian horse into 
Troy. There is one which represents the harbour 
of Puteoli ; but, unfortunately, the rules of perspec- 
tive are all so set at nought, that a man is fishing 
from the top of Nisis [Nisita,] and the water stands 
up straight before you. It presents the mole, now a 
mere ruin, in its perfect state; and two gallies, of 
three banks of oars, are entering the port. The 
holes for oars are ranged in three lines, like the ports 
of a line of battle ship. Splendid buildings crowd 
the shore, and many others run out on piers, present- 
ing a magnificent display of white walls, and colon- 
nades. A little portico rises from the bay, toward the 
south, the substructions of which the old man de- 
clared he had seen, remaining under water about thirty 
years ago. 

In one place were children playing with masks; 
and in another, caricature-drawings of men and wo- 
men, much after the modern fashion, with enormous 
heads and small bodies. There are also priests in 
their officiating dresses, which doubtless must afford 
some hints on the subject of religious ceremonials. 

Painted signs were found over several shop-doors in 
Pompeii, which, without the use of letters, told the 
occupation of the master. One was for a shop of 
kitchen utensils: and another is, a picture of a shoe- 
maker's shop, executed in the most wretched style. 
There is something like a work-bench, too indistinct 
to be well seen, and many shoes hanging from above. 
A man and woman have brought in their little boy, 
whom the craftsman is fitting with new shoes. Next, 



124 i\APLES.~PORTICL 

stands a sign taken from the door of a school, in 
which is a most satisfactory proof of the antiquity of 
horsing: a punishment some moderns are well ac- 
quainted with. A delinquent is held on the shoulders 
of one of his school-fellows, while another holds his 
feet, and the pedagogue is bestowing his chastisement. 
The other boys are ranged round on benches, with 
something like bits of parchment in their hands; and, 
terrified at the example, are studying with all their 
might. Another sign, which seems to have been merely 
ornamental, is a picture of three equestrian statues 
erected by the road-side, before which several men 
and boys have stopped, as if to read their inscriptions. 

A small apartment was found in a private house at 
Pompeii, which is supposed to have been devoted to 
religious worship, and its walls were removed hither, 
covered as they were with painted serpents, and many 
inexplicable things. In the next room is a picture of 
a private apartment, wliho, glass window opened, which 
looks into a small yard, where a Corinthian colonnade 
is thrown into beautiful perspective : as if to prove, in 
the most satisfactory manner, that many assertions con- 
cerning the ignorance of the ancients are unfounded. 

On the walls of some buildings in Pompeii, which 
are by some supposed to have been barracks, were 
found a great number of inscriptions apparently in red 
and black chalk, which have often been taken for the 
scribbled jests of soldiers. The characters are so 
antique, that 1 could hardly make out a single word: 
but the old man, who is familiar with them, declared 
they were almost all names. Here is, however, an 
advertisement of nine hundred shops to let for five 
years, by a woman named Julia Felix. 

We were afterward shown a very melancholy sight : 
the skull and arm-bone of Diomedes' wife, taken from 
the great cellar near Pompeii, together with a lump 



NAPLES— PORTICI. 1 25 

of indurated ashes, bearing the impression of her 
breast, and part of the arm about the elbow, made 
while the form was perfect. 

After the highly interesting subjects in which my 
mind has been lost for two or three days, I deem it 
little better than trifling to descend to the king of Na- 
ples, and the royal palace of Portici itself On apply- 
ing for admission, a servant took the keys and led us 
through a long succession of apartments, which he 
designated as halls, chambers of pages, audience- 
rooms, guard-chambers, private parlours, dining-rooms, 
bed-chambers, libraries ; besides the apartments for 
princes and princesses, the servants' rooms, &c. &:c. 
Many silken hangings and curtains it was here our 
lot to see, together with beautiful pictures, tables 
made of costly stones, inlaid in the richest manner, 
splendid furniture, and sometimes walls composed en- 
tirely of coloured marbles : but, to our plain mindsy 
there seemed little comfort in tiled floors without car- 
pets, and little refined taste in the king's young wife, 
in whose library I observed, among other English 
books, "Tom Jones," and •' Uncle Thomas." 

The view from many of the windows is, however, 
delightful ; and the garden is extensive and remarka- 
bly fine, being, at this season, so shaded by cypresses, 
oranges, and other evergreens, as to put winter quite 
out of memory. My friends visited also " La Favo- 
rita," another palace of the king, and describe it as 
very beautiful. 

When, at the approach of evening, we at length re- 
turned into the street, we were surrounded by fifteen 
or twenty of the most impertinent fellows, pressing us 
to hire their carriages, and driving their horses across 
our path. Each seemed to claim a sort of property 
in us : and when we refused to agree to their exorbi- 



1 26 NAPLES.— POZZUOLL 

tant demands, they scr(?amed around us like maniacs^ 
and made such a noise, that the inhabitants of Portici 
threw open their old-fashioned windows, and heads 
oddly decorated looked down from the sixth or seventh 
story, as from a cloud. 

NvPLEs. — Jan, 24. We set out this morning be- 
times, and entered the grotto of PozzuoH, the length 
of which is about two-thirds of a mile, and its 
antiquity unknown. Some antiquaries suppose it to 
have been made by the Cumseans : others believe it 
was at first only a quarry for building-stone. From 
the marks of wheels still seen in the walls, twenty 
feet from the present floor, it is reasonably sup- 
posed to have been at first of much smaller dimen- 
sions. Lamps are hung from the roof and lighted 
in the evening, and for the day-time, a communica- 
tion is opened with the upper air, by two slanting 
shafts near the middle. It is however a gloomy ride 
at best ; and we were well pleased to reach the end, 
and descend upon the valley of Bagnuoli, which is 
covered with a forest of tall trees, from which vines 
are stretched in festoons from limb to limb. To- 
ward the west this valley opens upon the water ; and. 
here we suddenly caught a view of the island of Nisita,. 
and our late neighbours, the Greek vessels, lying in ai 
hopeless and cheerless quarantine. ':> 

A ride of two miles along the shore, brought us tq» 
the gate of Pozzuoli, where several men and boys 
made their appearance, and offered not only to instruct 
us in the curiosities of their own town, but to lead us 
to the lake of Avernus. the city of Cumae, and the 
whole coast of Baiae. Their appearance formed the 
most ludicrous contrast with their pretensions : for 
while they ran over the names of ancient cities, 
Roman heroes, and the sacred retreats of divinities, 



NAPLES—POZZUOLI. j 27 

with almost a sacrilegious familiarity, they trotted by 
our side in the dust, some with torn jackets, some 
with half a shoe, and some with none at all. One, 
more forward than the rest, actually leaped up be- 
hind the carriage, to sing his own praises with more 
effect in our very ears ; and when driven down, 
outstripped his ragged companions, followed us hard 
a full mile, and, when we dismounted, was among us 
again like a familiar spirit. 

Our coming excited a general buzzing among 
scores of beggars, who seemed to have been lying 
in wait for exactly such a party as ours, and forth- 
with surrounded us, offering their petitions, in such 
a variety of voices and tongues, that not one of them 
could be understood : " Date mi qualche cosa, 
signore," repeated over and over, till we could scarce 
recollect where we were, or what they wanted. If 
we separated, each was attended by a swarm of his 
own, from which there seemed to be no escape ; and 
\[ we met again, their combined noise quite drowned 
our voices, and broke up the consultation we had 
intended to hold at this place, concerning the best 
plan for our future route. 

We were in a large square, and had alighted beside 
a piece of sculptured marble in the middle of it, 
which is supposed to be a monument erected in Pu- 
teoli, to the Emperor Tiberius, by fourteen cities of 
Asia Minor. It bears emblems of those cities, w^ith 
their names written below, and is too valuable an 
antique to be exposed in a public place; though to 
do the Pozzuolites justice, they seem to respect it as 
it deserves, as well as a Roman statue at a little dis- 
tance from it. 

But we had already remained on this spot quite long 
enough, for neither threats nor entreaties availed to 



] 28 NAPLES.— POZZUOLr. 

deliver us from would-be guides and real beggars ; 
and taking to our heels, we ran down a neighbouring 
street, followed by the rabble in full chase. The same 
persevering cicerone before mentioned still kept at our 
elbow. "What do you want.^^" we inquired angrily, 
" Gentlemen," he replied, in very good English, with a 
shrewd smile, and his hat in hand, " I want to rid 
you of these troublesome fellows. I am a cicerone ; 
and, if you will trust yourselves to my direction, you 
will make the tour of the various interesting scenes in 
this neighbourhood in the shortest time possible, and 
with the least fatigue. My father was a cicerone 
before me, and instructed me in all the knowledge he 
was possessed of" So saying, he drew from his 
pocket a book full of recommendations, from travel- 
lers of many nations, who had all been signally bene- 
fitted by the profound literature of Pietro Rocca. 
But the rabble were now coming up ; so, hastily 
accepting him as a guide, we desired him to lead our 
retreat. This checked the ragged mob; and Pietro, 
with a short speech in the dialect of Pozzuoli, which 
Mattia had before taught us to regard as perfectly 
ridiculous, sent them all back the way they came. 

We had now time to look about us. We were on a 
smooth modern quay on the north side of the town, 
and under the shadow of a range of tall and deserted 
store-houses. The remains of the ancient mole lay 
further south, like a row of black rocksjust above the 
surface, but not visible from this place ; and the har- 
bour, which it has long since ceased to protect, con- 
tained only two or three fishing-boats. The beach, 
running about a mile to the north, made a bold sweep 
to the fool of Monte Nuovo, a hill several hundred 
feet high, which was thrown out in one night by a vol- 
cano, from the bowels of the earth. On the opposite 



1 



l^fAPLES.— POZZUOLI. 329 

side was the harbour of Baia, with the modern town 
on a hill just below it, and the remaining part of the 
cape ending two or three miles down, at a bluff which 
still bears the name of Misenus, the friend of ^Eneas. 
Among a thousand other interesting incidents, which the 
scene is calculated to recall to the memory, there is 
none more splendid than that which is said to have been 
exhibited by Caligula, the narration of which was still 
fresh in mind as recorded by that downright historian 
Suetonius, or, shall I say.it? his still more downright 
translator John Clark. The story was indeed ques- 
tioned, even when the lives of the Twelve Caesars 
were written : but the historian quotes his grandfa- 
ther, whose authority we are bound to treat with 
respect on his account. From the end of the mole, he 
tells us, ships of burthen were drawn up and moored 
in a line, which reached to Baise, a distance of 3f 
Roman miles, and covered with earth so as to resemble 
the Appian Way, over which the emperor passed 
and repassed for two days, in a triumphant manner. 
The first day he went on horseback, with a crown 
of oak leaves, dressed in cloth of gold, and armed 
with a shield, sword and battle-axe. The next day 
he drove a chariot, drawn by two celebrated horses, 
and attended by a young Parthian hostage named 
Darius, and some of his friends mounted in British 
chariots. According to the account given by the 
grandfather of Suetonius, this was done in conse- 
quence of an astrologer having declared, that Cali- 
gula would no more be emperor, than he would ride 
over the bay of Baise on horseback. 

But this scene, with all its magnificence, was far 
removed into oblivion, when we recollected " a certain 
ship of Alexandria, whose sign was Castor and 
Pollux," that once entered this port, and brought 

17 



130 NAPLES— BAIA. 

as a prisoner the great apostle of the Gentiles. Here 
he remained seven days, among a company of believers 
whom he found, in a city where Serapis and Diana 
were worshipped, and where afterwards Augustus was 
added to the number of the gods. This soil was 
trodden by Paul, while acting under the command of 
the vision that said, " Thou must bear witness also at 
Rome." 

When we had determined to make the travellers' 
tour by land, instead of taking a boat to Baia, and 
walking over the neighbouring country, Pietro dis- 
patched a man for three donkies, and then led us to 
the temple of Jupiter Serapis, where, on an oblong 
piece of ground, 140 feet long, and 120 wide, English 
measure, (like all future dimensions in this journal,) 
were three granite columns standing, and several 
lying at their feet, still highly polished, and about five 
feet in thickness. The friezes also are rich " beyond 
compare," and their minutest flowers and beads are ae 
smooth as pearls. 

In the baths, we observed sculptured dolphins ; and 
some of the basins are still in good order, supplied 
by a spring of warm, sulphureous water, and used 
for bathing. 

Three miserable donkies were waiting for us when 
we left these magnificent ruins ; though we at fir^t 
refused to take them on the score of humanity, when wfei 
saw how they had been galled and ill-treated by their 
inhuman masters, we soon found that no better could be 
obtained ; and, having arranged the knotted harnesses 
as humanely as possible, we at length mounted and 
set off. One of the poor animals however stumbled 
and fell over the first stone, the rider being thrown 
into the dust as far forward as the stirrups would per- 
mit, and both lay as dead ; but it happened for- 



NAPLES.— BAIA. J3|^ 

tunately that neither man nor beast received any 
injury, though they looked raore like a miller the rest 
of the day. 

A lonely ride of about two miles, over a sandy 
beach partly shaded with bushes, brought us to Monte 
Nuovo, when w^e turned to the right, and followed 
along at its foot, till at length we began to ascend an 
adjoining hill. From the top, we caught through a 
chasm, a glimpse of a dark pond, about a mile in 
circumference, surrounded by high, steep banks, 
which had an air of desertion and seclusion decidedly 
melancholy. It was the lake of Avernus : and no 
traveller perhaps ever saw it break thus suddenly 
upon him, and heard the guide pronounce its name, 
without a thrill of pleasure. Beyond, the road lay on 
the top of the bank, on the north side ; and a little 
mound near at hand commanded at one glance a view 
of the whole. A few scattering trees opposite, stand- 
ing in a gap of the hills, are called the remains of the 
Groves of Trivia ; the mouth of a cave among them 
is said to be the entrance to the infernal world, 
through which ^neas was conducted by the Cumaean 
Sybil ; and a ruin on the left, which rises from the 
margin of the water, is called the Temple of Apollo. 

In the sand-banks by the road, were the broken parts 
of an acqueduct, built perhaps by Nero, while that 
mad fit was on him, which induced him to attempt 
to bring water from BaiaB to Rome. They are built of 
brick, shaped like narrow drains, and large enough for 
a man to walk through them, by stooping a little : but 
the surface has been so much raised by ashes from the 
volcano, that the acqueduct is buried beneath the 
soil. 

A mile or two beyond, are the ruins of Cumae, 
a city founded by a colony from Euboea, and the 



J 32 3NAPLES.— BAIA. 

most ancient settlement on this coast. The gate, 
which is called the Arco Felice, is the largest ruin we 
have seen ; the arched passage being about thirty feet 
wide, and Mty high, and the whole structure about 
eighty feet to the top. It is built of broad and thin 
bricks, and pierced with two holes, which may 
have given room for acqueducts. Its broken summit 
is overgrown with green bushes, and commands a 
very extensive view toward the west, of the Mediter- 
ranean and the distant island of Ponza. The retire- 
ment of the place partook not a little of solemnity; 
for my companions having passed, there was no sound 
except the voice of a shepherd boy, singing at a dis- 
tance, and the rustling of lizards among the dry 
leaves. A trampling was afterwards heard, and an 
exclamation in broad English of "There's the Arco 
Felice ! What a d — n fine ruin !" and two English 
sparks passed by on the gallop. 

The road which passes under this noble arch, once 
led into Cumae, but now is a mere mule-path to the 
vineyards by which its ruins are covered : for Cumae 
is as completely enveloped by the ashes of Monte 
Nuovo, as Pompeii by those of Vesuvius. But an im- 
portant difference is to be kept in view ; Pompeii was 
overwhelmed while it was a crowded city, but Cumae 
lay a heap of ruins for centuries. We readily acce- 
ded to the proposition of our guide to diverge a little 
to the right, in order to call at a solitary farm-house ; 
and there regaled ourselves with some excellent white 
wine, resembling the best cider, which was drawn from 
one of a huge pile of casks, and afforded at a very 
moderate price. Beneath us, all this time, lay a whole 
city in ruins ; nothing appeared to betray it, except 
along the path, where old houses were frequently seen 
peeping from broken banks ; and, for the distance of 



NAPLES— BAIA. 233 

a mile, the ground is half paved with old walls, fre- 
quently worn down a foot or two by the passage of 
mules. 

Here are the remains of what is called the Giant's 
Temple ; and the amphitheatre, a little farther on, re- 
tains nothing of its ancient appearance, except its form: 
the arena being covered with old olive trees. 

Having passed Virgil's lonely lake Acheron, we 
turned east, and soon came to the top of a hill, look- 
ing down upon the bay and the town of Pozzuoli, 
Nisita, and many distant points of the coast. A steep 
and broken path before us, descended to the shore of 
a beautiful arching bay, shut in by hills, in the form 
of a horse-shoe. The surface was every where une- 
ven, and in some places were green olive trees, stand- 
ing on small terraces. Indeed a great part of the 
ground seemed, at first view, to have been cut in this 
manner for cultivation: but a little attention proved 
that the appearance was owing to the walls of build- 
ings, now many centuries in ruins, filled up by the 
washing of rains, and the ashes from Monte Nuovo, 
which furnished the fine theatre of sloping hills, with 
numerous broken tiers, like the remains of seats for 
spectators. 

This was the scite of Baiae, and these were the re- 
mains of the baths, villas, palaces, and temples, with 
which it was rather crowded than ornamented. But 
the elements have made such havoc here in the course 
of ages, that there exists not a single ruin with an un- 
disputed name ; and not more than five or six whose 
character can be even conjectured. Near the foot of 
the hill, on the left, is a Temple of Mercury, consist- 
ing of a circular room with a vaulted roof The walls 
are bare, but well preserved ; and a low whisper may 
be heard by a person on the opposite side, at the 



134 



NAPLES.— BAIA. 



distance of forty steps. Near the shore is a Temple 
of Venus, connected with a range of ruinous baths ; 
and at a short distance Pietro made us stop again, at 
a dark hole overgrown with weeds, which leads into 
several chambers, with gilded walls, supposed to 
be the tomb of Agrippina, wife of Germanicus, and 
mother of Nero, whom he poisoned, and afterwards 
buried with much pomp. There were but three or 
four dwellings to be seen among the heaps of ruins 
around us; and they were small and comfortless, 
though built of stone, and tolerably white without; so 
that the twenty-seven wretches we now counted press- 
ing round us, clamourous for alms and offering antiques 
for sale, must have formed nearly the whole present 
population of a place, where half the emperors of 
Rome, and many of her most wealthy citizens, once 
built their favourite villas and palaces. The scene 
has changed, indeed, since this spot was the centre of 
all that was attractive in this delightful vicinity; since 
acqueducts brought the water of many distant springs 
for the supply of its baths ; the fertile Campagna yielded 
the richest fruits and wines for its inhabitants ; and par- 
ticularly when, on some part of these deserted hills, 
stood the villas of Mecsenas, and Augustus, the resort 
of Horace, Virgil, and their contemporary wits and 
poets. Virgil, could he see this coast in its present 
state, would find it reduced nearly to the desertion of 
the times of his iEneas ; and Horace would discover 
little of that luxury which once provoked his satire. 
The long piers which were run out far into the har- 
bour, to furnish room for new buildings, after all the 
land had been occupied, have now disappeared ; for 
the earthquakes have long since destroyed them all, 
and filled up the port with their ruins; and, as we 
walked along the beach, the sand was full of broken 



NAPLES.— BAIA. I35 

bricks, white and coloured marbles, verde-antique, 
and fragments of red earthen jars, rolled together and 
thrown up in ridges by the waves Here are some- 
times found gems of some value ; usually small carne- 
lians, engraved with various figures, an art in which 
the ancients are quite unrivalled. Most of them were 
probably for rings, and all of them are well calculated 
to take the fancy of any one, who possesses the least 
degree of the spirit of an antiquary : but they are so 
well counterfeited in glass by the Neapohtans, that 
hundreds of spurious ones are probably carried away 
every year, by travellers who have the credulity to 
trust the asseverations and oaths of the wretches now 
inhabiting these shores. 

On the high point which bounds the harbour on the 
south, is situated the modern Baiae, a miserable vil- 
lage fortified with a small castle ; and, for two or three 
miles beyond, we rode on high land, and enjoyed an 
extensive view, over a large part of the Bay of Na- 
ples, including some of the islands and Vesuvius, in- 
terrupted only by one or two villages beyond. Here 
the houses, though often tall, and substantially built 
of stone, were extremely old, and looked comfortless 
within ; while the streets were so narrow and broken 
that we were usually forced to proceed in a single line, 
and half the inhabitants instinctively muttered, " qual- 
che cosa signor," and stretched out their hands, as 
soon as they saw us coming. The women w^ere almost 
all engaged in spinning, and that in the ancient fashion, 
without the music of a wheel, twirling a heavy spindle 
with the right hand, while they drew the flax with the 
left, from a reed fastened at the waist. 

Extreme poverty is no less evident in the dress of 
these people, than mental degradation in their fea- 
tures; and while they receive from the soil they cuUi- 



136 NAPLES.— BAI A. 

vate, the scanty share allowed them by gnping land- 
lords, they gaze like idiots on the magnificent sce- 
nery, once familiar and delightful to the eyes of the 
greatest Romans, and stumble among the ruins of their 
habitations, which they regard only as they encumber 
the ground. 

As we passed through Bauli, the streets were almost 
paved with the buried walls of the ancient city of 
Baulis, over which the surface has been raised, as 
over Raise, and Cumae, and probably in the same 
manner. When we had passed the modern town, the 
ruins often interrupted the wheat fields, and vine- 
yards ; and Pietro frequently warned us against leav- 
ing the foot-path for a moment, lest we should fall into 
dangerous holes among the weeds, with which the 
heaps of stones are often overgrown. 

The southern point of the promontory, at the head 
of which stands the scite of Cumae, is a bluff still 
called after the name of Misenus, the pilot of iEneas's 
fleet ; and just this side of it is the Dead Sea, a pond, 
probably a mile in circumference, defended from the 
ancient naval port of Misenum on the left, and on the 
right from the channel through which w6 entered the 
bay of Naples, by low beaches of smooth sand; and 
seems to have been admirably calculated for an inner 
port to that of Misenum, with which it was con- 
nected by a canal made by Julius Caesar, now entirely 
filled up. 

The day was now fast wasting; and we found it 
necessary to return towards Naples, which was many 
miles distant. We were obliged, therefore, to content 
ourselves with a distant view of the ruins of ancient 
Misenum, a town beyond the Dead Sea ; with the 
small but populous island of Procida, and the steep 
mountains of Ischia. 



NAPLES.—BAIA. I37 

By a narrow and devious path, which turned off to 
the right, we reached the Hundred Chambers, or the 
prison of Nero, and were conducted by candle-light, 
down a winding stair-case of hewn stone. Here we 
found a great number of small apartments, in excellent 
preservation, and were particularly struck, on arriving 
at the end of a passage, to find four small cells, which 
met at such a narrow door that a single man, standing 
between them, completely guards, or rather blocks up 
the access of them all. In another place there 
remains a ring-bolt, from which time indeed has long 
since freed the prisoner; but the sight is enough 
to awaken anew the strongest detestation of the 
tyrant. 

We returned through Baia ; and following the 
beach, climbed the opposite hill, from which the 
retrospect was very fine. But Pietro besought us to 
hasten forward, and not linger at the ruins of Caesar's 
palace, for a row of loaded mules had been seen 
coming round the head of the bay, and must now be 
near the entrance of the grotto of Baia, which pene- 
trates the hill just beyond the place where we were. 
This grotto is made much like that of Posilipo, and 
probably of still greater antiquity. It is about a 
quarter of a mile long, and arched above; yet, though 
about twenty feet wide, is so much filled up with rub- 
bish that only one mule can pass at a time. Pietro 
screamed therefore as he hurried on our wretched 
animals ; and when we emerged from the darkness of 
the grotto, we found the muleteers waiting for us, 
together with an old crouching man, who offered to 
conduct us to the Vapour Baths of Nero, pointing at 
another dark hole in the hill. 

A steep descent brought us to a narrow stripe o( 
low ground, which divides the bay of Pozzuoli on the 

18 



138 NAPLES.—BAIA. 

right, from lake Acheron, on the left. Following the 
bend of this lake for three quarters of a mile, and then 
winding along a blind path through overgrown fields, 
we reached the side of a hill, which sloped to the 
shore of lake Avernus. Three ragged men made 
their appearance, at the mouth of a gloomy passage 
overgrown with bushes; and while they were light- 
ing torches, the length of which threatened us a 
tedious subterranean journey, we had a little time to 
look around, and see what changes had taken place 
here since the days of Mneas. There are a few old 
trees scattered about, which are called the Groves of 
Trivia, the Temple of Apollo is in ruins opposite; and 
the lake has lost all its ancient gloom. There are 
several apartments belonging to the Sybil's Grotto, as 
the cavern is called : but their floors are covered with 
water, and we were carried through them on the backs 
of the guides, while Pietro hastened them on, with 
such screams as are used in this country in driving 
mules and horses. Here are the remains of gilded 
ceilings, and a passage which pierces the hill, and opens 
on lake Acheron : but we returned by the way we had 
come, and reached again the shore of the bay, with- 
out meeting a single person, (such is the solitude of 
almost every interesting spot in this vicinity,) except 
a few sailors, cutting bushes and making them into 
fagots, under the direction of a midshipman, belong- 
ing to a small British vessel, at anchor in the harbour 
of Baia. , 

The beach, as it swept round the head of the bay 
of Pozzuoli, brought us to the base of Monte Nuovo, 
and to the ruins of the mole, which once shut in the 
Julian Port ; and a little beyond, we saw several 
masses of ancient brick-work or masonry in the water. 
Approaching Pozzuoli, we passed again the ruins of 



NAPLES.-BAIA, 139 

Cicero's Villa ; for he had a villa at Puteoli as well as 
Baiae and Pompeii. The margin of the water in front 
of it is strewed with bricks and marbles ; and gems 
are sometimes picked up by children playing in the 
sand. 

We passed through a part of Pozzuoli ; and, when 
we had reached the fields, the surface was often 
broken by ancient walls, shaken down by earth- 
quakes, and buried by the ashes of Solfaterra, 
now a smothered volcano a little way off. The 
houses of the peasants, who cultivate the vine- 
yards through which our path lay, are so old, as 
hardly to be distinguished from those of Roman 
dates, except by the fact that they are built above 
them : for the door-posts are sometimes half cut away 
by time, and wherever utensils or furniture are usually 
placed, the stone wall is often worn in, to the depth 
of several inches. The dress of the inhabitants too 
was whole ages out of date, and so quaint that it bor- 
dered on the ridiculous : yet it is evident, from what 
we saw in passing, that contentment may be found 
among the ruins of palaces, and that even the Poz- 
zuoli dialect is, to a native, an intelligible and very use- 
ful language. 

The remains of the amphitheatre are in a large 
field ; and prove the structure to have been second in 
size only, to that of Titus in Rome. In point of anti- 
quity, it has even the advantage over that by some 
years ; and possesses a still farther interest, from the 
fact, that in it was martyred one of the early Chris- 
tians, since adopted as the patron saint of Naples, 
St. Januarius. The arena, where he was first exposed, 
unhurt, to wild beasts, is now covered with vines and 
trees. 

A short walk through the fields, brought us to the 
place where an ancient tomb has been lately disco- 



1 40 NAPLES.— POZZUOLI. 

vered. A vine-dresser, who accompanied us to the 
spot, was at work in the fields, some time in the year 
1817, when the ground suddenly gave way under him, 
and he fell down, twelve or fifteen feet, upon the floor 
of a small square room. The sides were furnished 
with niches, in which were placed four white marble 
sarcophagi, or coffins, richly ornamented with reliefs 
and recumbent statues. One of these coffins has 
been sold and removed to the palace of the studii, at 
Naples; the others still keep their places, and even 
contain small quantities of human ashes and bones. 
Every thing speaks of a wealthy owner. The niches 
were covered with Mosaic, and one of them bears the 
picture of a galley of three banks of oars/ made in 
white and gilded marble. 

"Nothing found here belonged, of right, to the dis- 
coverer," said Pietro, with a knowing look, " and there- 
fore Vicenzo took care to find nothing worth having.'^ 
This was spoken in English : then turning, he said in 
Italian, "The gentlemen inquire whether you found 
any thing of more value than these ashes." " Nothing,'* 
said he, with an air of affected sincerity, only half 
supported. " Nothing," repeated Pietro in English, 
with a Neapolitan shrug: "yet he carried four hun- 
dred dollars worth of coins the next day to Naples, 
beside a quantity of such stones as these, and has 
been contented ever since." The stones he showed us 
were small, and bore the profiles of men and women. 
They were found in great numbers, and most of them 
were alike. 

It is impossible to tread on a soil like this, without 
wishing it might be inhabited by men of intelligence, 
or at least of more curiosity and activity, who would 
not rest till they had brought to light the treasures 
with which it teems, and ransacked old Puteoli to her 
foundations. 



NAPLES.— POZZUOLL j 4 j 

Near a mile farther on, is a Franciscan convent; 
«ind on our way thitber we walked for a few minutes 
on the Consular Way, which is here laid bare by the 
washing of the rain against a hill-side. That road 
formerly extended from Pompeii to Baiae, and proba- 
bly this is a part of it, though it is almost every where 
else destroyed, or concealed under the surface. During 
our walk, Pietro amused us with a story of his spend- 
ing two years in a British transport, merely to learn 
English, to fit him better for his business; and with his 
complaints against the emperor of Austria, for threat- 
ening the country with an invasion, and thus injuring 
the business of an honest cicerone. He gave us a 
description too, of the twenty monks who inhabit the 
convent during the wirjter; the only season when it 
is safe from the unhealthy atmosphere, which at other 
times infects the neighbourhood. "They have heads 
the same as a bullock," said he, " for the best bread 
is for the monks, the fattest mutton is for the monks, 
the best wine is for the monks. Go there any day 
after dinner, and you will find them all asleep. They 
have nothing to do; they live better than any body 
else, and do a thousand things which they would call 
great sins in me. They pretend to be poor, and go 
into Naples to beg for the convent; but nine times 
out of ten the poor Franciscan will stop on his way 
home, and leave the alms he has received in a shop." 

Oil reaching the convent walls, we found reason to 
believe some part of this shrewd fellow's statement: 
for two donkies came up loaded with casks, from which 
the red wine was dripping; and we were forced to 
knock loud and repeatedly, before we could gain admis- 
sion. A tall, broad-shouldered young man at last ap- 
peared, in a coarse brown frock, with his cowl thrown 
back, leaving his shorn head uncovered. "Brother 



142 



NAPLES. 



Giacomo," said our guide, with much familiarity, "I 
hope we have not disturbed the whole convent: but 
reallj you slept so much more soundly than usual, 
that I thought you were all dead." Brother Giacomo 
smiled, and led us to the cells, which are ranged about 
a small court, and certainly appeared comfortless 
enough. Pietro looked incredulous, and assumed a 
corresponding tone of irony. " Brother," said he, "you 
are too austere. Take care of yourself; too much 
abstinence sometimes may be worse than a little indul- 
gence. Your flesh is wasting away, and here you are 
mortifying yourself in every possible manner ; and that 
cord you wear about your waist — is it not a hard and 
knotty thing to be whipped with?" 

We were now in the chapel ; and surely, the altars 
and the pictures were of no inconsiderable value, 
while the half-worn inscriptions under foot, proved 
that many persons had thought it worth their ambi- 
tion, and probably their money, to be buried in this 
holy place. The monk, with a slight attempt at an 
expression of reverence, opened a case, in which was 
a wretched picture of St. Januarius ; and then showed 
the bloody stone on which he was beheaded. " How 
old is that picture ?" inquired Pietro, at our instiga- 
tion. "Dont you know? Is it four thousand years?" 
" Yes," replied brother Giacomo, " at least that." 

On returning to Pozzuoli, we were beset with chil- 
dren offering us coins, and hastened through narrow j 
streets, to the church of St. Proculus, where are seve- j 
ral fine Corinthian columns built into a wall, which 
are the remains of a temple erected to Augustus as 
a god. I 

We took a carriage after sun-set, to return to Naples, j 
and met about fifty boys led in procession by a priest, S 



who was their instructor. They were dressed in large 



NAPLES.— VIRGIL'S TOMB. ]43 

cloaks, and three-cornered hats. According to Pietro, 
who followed us out of the city to bid us farewell, all 
schoolmasters are members of the priesthood. Our 
coachman would not consent to go so late to the Dog's 
Grotto, for fear of the bugbear of " robbers and Car- 
bonari." 

In about half an hour, we entered the long, dark 
grotto of Posilipo, with a row of feeble lamps hung 
along the roof; and a ride of two miles more after 
night-fall, and an occasional glimpse of Vesuvius, with 
spots of fire on her sides, brought us again to Naples. 

As the country is, at this time, in great ferment, 
military parades are frequent in the city, and the coffee 
and dining houses are sometimes crowded with officers 
and soldiers. They are almost without exception, noisy 
and ill-bred, and have so disgusted us, that we hope 
and care less and less for their success. What wretch- 
ed republicans would be made of the Pozzuolites and 
the Baians ! and the national guard, the yeomanry of 
the kingdom, seem more like braggarts than patriots. 

Naples. — January 28. We must suppose the clear 
skies and pleasant weather, in which we have been so 
long indulged, to be very near their close : and whether 
we look at the usual character of the winter seasons 
in this climate, or the long established system of this 
world, our period of enjoyment must shortly be suc- 
ceeded by a double share of clouds and storms, for 
which we are already deeply in arrears. — Such were 
our reflections this morning, as the early light began 
to steal silently into our apartments : but the voices of 
Neapolitan criers, from the narrow streets below, rung 
so clear and shrill, as to dispel in a moment all our me- 
lancholy forebodings, and yield a fair promise of ano- 
ther delightful day. Some of our neighbours were soon 
afterwards heard conversing with great liveliness, from 



144 NAPLES.— VIRGIL'S TOMB. 

the little iron ballustrades with which the upper win- 
dows are usually furnished ; and there was so much hila- 
rity in their tones, and such mellowness in some of their 
cadences, that they resemhied the notes of singing 
birds, when they start away in a prolonged current of 
unintelligible music, and then dwell upon the close, 
and prolong the sweetest chord in their little octave. 
When we had studied awhile the quaint device by 
which our windows were secured, and had succeeded 
in opening them inwards, from the ceiling to the 
floor, the old women, girls, and children, who ap- 
peared at almost every opening, together with the 
antique structures they inhabited, presented a scene 
foreign and singular, like some strange aviary, stuffed 
with birds from some newly discovered couritry, and 
many an uncouth combination of discordant colours 
and forms. Here was a face all lined and interlined 
with wrinkles, set off with gilt combs, sparkling gew- 
gaws, and gaudy ribands ; and near by, and perhaps 
in the act of paying to it the compliments of a de- 
lightful morning, a smiling, dimpling girl of thirteen, 
crowned with a cap of such a sad and antiquated 
form, as would have done credit to an Egyptian 
mummy. The hilarity of the morning seemed to have 
every where diffused itself; for, on emerging from the 
hotel, to seek breakfast in a neighbouring coffee house, 
the coachmen were unusually urgent in the offer of 
their services, taking it for granted that the " English- 
men," as they call us, could not fail to be tempted inta 
the country by such a morning; and crowded rounds 
us with their importunate cries of '^ Andiam' a Poz*/ 
zuol', a Baia, a Ercolan', a Pompeia — amdiam' sig* 
no'!" 

But our course had been determined in another 
direction ; and consulting our books, we set off for the 



NAPLES.— VIRGIL'S TOMB. I45 

tomb of Virgil. Among dark and narrow streets, we 
wound our way, and passed through the long public 
garden, while the drops of dew were yet on the cold 
marble statues, which lined its then deserted walks. 
The noble sculptured bull, which occupies a large 
pedestal in the centre, frowned upon us as we passed; 
while the muscular exertion expressed in the young 
man who holds him forcibly by the horns, was admi- 
rably contrasted with the passive terror of poor Dirce, 
who lies at his feet, with her long tresses entangled in 
the horns of the ferocious animal. The little temple 
beyond, lately erected to receive a bust of Tasso, 
and the view of the broad bay, which opened full upon 
us when we began to tread the sweeping beach of 
the Margellina, seemed to harmonize with the reflec- 
tions which occupied our minds, as we gradually ap- 
proached the object of our research; and even the 
promptitude with which the little children came up 
of their own accord, and offered to conduct us to " il 
sepolcro di Virgilio," only proved beyond controversy 
the permanency of a great name. 

A long and steep zig-zag road soon afterwards ap- 
peared, and conducted up the hill, with many a toil- 
some winding. When our height permitted a view 
beyond the neighbouring houses, the bay appeared 
more and more extensive at every pause we made; 
while, close at hand, the lofty precipices of hewn vol- 
canic rock, and the vineyards and gardens with which 
they were crowned, afforded many new and interest- 
ing varieties, and called again to mind the picturesque 
peculiarities of the country. 

Every one has looked with pleasure on the striking 
points of Italian landscapes, as detailed on the can- 
vass ; but 1 apprehend it is usually with a monitory 
whispering of doubt. Painters have forms and colours 

19 



146 NAPLES.— VIRGIL'S TOMB. 

submissive at their command, and are never bound to 
follow nature when she contradicts the rules of har- 
mony, or deviates from the line of grace ; and to their 
invention are often attributed the riches of the scenery, 
the languid postures and striking costumes of the 
figures, the quaint caparisons of steeds, the myste-r 
rious shades of the cavern, and the warm tints of the 
surrounding landscape. But a slight attention to the 
subject on the spot, is sufficient to convince us that, 
in these respects, the artist may be a mere copyist : 
nature has supplied him abundantly with models, and 
among her works are to be sought the elements, or 
rather the originals, of his designs. The peculiar 
appearance of the lower class of the people has been 
noticed before, as well their manners and their dress; 
but the richest and most appropriate foregrounds are 
afforded, in this vicinity, by the artificial forms of the 
rocks, whose warm red and yellow volcanic tints light 
up afresh at sun-rise and sun-set, and harmonize most 
generously with the richest colours of the pallet. 
However useless may now appear the vast labour 
bestowed in chisselling them down to their present 
forms, at some long past and unknown period, they 
may serve to recall the time when these regions bore 
many marks of Roman luxury ; when the magnificence 
of Baiae and Puteoli overflowed the cities of Hercu- 
laneum and Pompeii, and even reached the elevated 
ranges of Parthenope or Pausilipus; when the villas 
of the splendid were seen encircling the bay, and 
Grecian columns stood in marshalled ranks along the 
shore. There is now indeed no want of fair country- 
houses on the neighbouring summits, nor of stately and 
royal edifices on the distant promontories; and their 
clear whiteness beautifijlly sets off the deep purplish 
blue of the remoter mountains : but how sadly changed 



NAPLES— VIRGIL'S TOMB. ] 47 

since ancient times! The stranger is at first filled 
with regret at the comparison : but when he looks on 
the distant shores, where cultivation and sterility as- 
sume the same colour and appearance ; on the strongly 
featured islands of Capri and Ischia, where all the 
traces of man are entirely lost to view; on the still 
more distant Appennines covered with a shroud of 
snow; and then turns to Vesuvius, rolling out its 
clouds of mysterious vapours ; he acknowledges that 
there is a luxury inherent in the scene, which survives 
untouched the common wastes of time, and far, far 
transcends the utmost reach of art. 

In the sight of these noble objects it was, that 
Virgil chose to spend the latter years of his life ; here, 
at his own desire, were deposited his ashes, and no one 
I think can visit the place and not associate ever after- 
wards his favourite residency with his memory, and 
trace some of his admirable con ^eptions to this scene, 
so adapted to lofty poetic meditation. Though 
divested of its former adventitious decorations^ the 
same picture is before us in its native grandeur, 
and must doubtless add, in the mind of a scholar, 
a new interest to many of his lines, by enforcing their 
meaning and redoubling their effect. 

We were admitted through a little door into a garden, 
by a young man, who led us some distance through 
long alleys, and under the shade of olive trees ; till 
turning to the right, and descending a flight of stone 
steps cut out of a great rock, we came to the very brow 
of an artificial precipice, and found ourselves hanging 
over the entrance of the dark grotto of Posilipo. A small 
square tomb of stones and plaster stood beside us, over- 
grown spontaneously with wild olive and myrtle, and 
sprinkled with a few flowers. In one of its niches, is 
said to have been deposited the cinerary urn of Virgil, 



X48 NAPLES—VIRGIL'S TOMB. 

although one account declares that his remains were 
placed, at his own request, under one of the stones of 
the old Puteoli road below, in front of the inscription 
affixed to the base of the precipice. The seclusion 
of the spot where the tomb is placed, well corresponds 
with the feelings which its history excites ; for nothing 
was to be seen except the ragged yellow cliffs around, 
fantastically ornamented with the streaming tresses of 
pendant vines, and crowned with verdant shrubbery ; 
while a rude colonnade through which the steps con- 
ducted us, all cut in the living rock [" vivo saxo,"] 
completed a scene in which the bard perhaps might 
have learnt to say, what now a stranger might repeat 
for the bard : 

" Ite capellae : 



" Nonego vos posthar viridi projectus in antro, 
*' Dumosa pendere /ro,ml de rape videbo." 
'* Carmina nulla canam." 

[Leave me, my herd ! No more shall I lie in my shady cavern, and see 
you hanging- from the distant mossy rock — I shall sing" my song-s no more.] 

Returning by the way we had come, the broad bay 
of Naples opened once more to view, with its noble 
expansion of water, thirty miles across — ranges of 
mountains for its shores, and Vesuvius for its beacon. 
Human power is too feeble, man is too diminutive, 
either to improve or to mar its beauties. We may 
indeed admire a neighbouring villa, or might perhaps 
look out with more pleasure from a hanging-garden, 
or a marble portico ; but cottages, palaces and towns 
are diminished into mere spots at the foot of Vesuvius, 
and grow more and more dim at each successive head- 
land, until they are all entirely lost in the rich purple 
hue of Capo Campanella. There the varieties of sur- 
face are no more distinguishable ; and the richest coat 



NAPLES.~VIRGIL»S TOMB. 149 

of verdure can boast no beauty over the most hopeless 
sterility. The bold outlines of Ischia and Capri also, 
only seem to enclose their portions of a deeper sky, 
enveloping their villages and pastures, their olive 
groves and rocky pinnacles, in one unvarying hue of 
azure. In such a scene all human grandeur loses its 
majesty; and all that art can do is but to speak its 
own imbecility, and impress the mind with double awe, 
at the overwhelming superiority of nature. 

This was its effect when Virgil knew the scene; 
and for this it was that it became his favourite retreat. 
It presents to the mind a continual reference to a 
superiour world: to a loftier, a purer state of being. 
Like a face in which all the female virtues are dis- 
played, as well as the corresponding traits of beauty ; 
or like the sublime expression of a patriarch's fea- 
tures, it directs the thoughts to a brighter realm, 
where many a counterpart exists, and where those 
laws of indescribable harmony prevail, whose benign 
influence is never manifested on earth, save in the 
production of such lovely and exalted forms, and those 
corresponding sentiments and qualities of the heart, 
with which the mind considers them naturally con- 
nected. Such a poet as Virgil could never have been 
insensible to ideas of this description, while all around 
him was proclaiming lofty things, so congenial to a 
soul that delighted in far and daring flights ; and here it 
was, our fancy tells us, while contemplating this scene, 
that he exclaimed : 



" Aspice convexo nutantem pondere mundum, 

" Terras, jactusque maris, coelumque profundum : 
" Aspice venture laetentur ut omnia ceclo." 

[See how the sphere of this great earth is moved : The land, the sea, the 
immeasurable sky — all thing-s exulting in the coming age.] 



J 50 NAPLES.— VIRGIL'S TOMB. 

Truly the scene might seem to speak such language; 
and who that beholds it can fail to think, that it con- 
veys a hope more bright than all the rites and doc- 
trines of the heathen : such conceptions as could 
never have been drawn from the ancient mythology, 
even by Virgil himself, unless at some moment when 
he arrayed his gods in attributes far purer than their 
own. How willing we are to indulge the suggestion, 
that he spoke under the influence of a belief very 
general about that time, that great though undefined 
events were soon to be developed, far transcending in 
importance the most splendid spectacles which the 
world had ever witnessed. How do we regret that he 
could not have lived to join in the admiration of those, 
who witnessed the fulfilment of what he thus uncon- 
sciously prophesied, and were admitted to the fruition 
of what he so dimly and inadequately comprehended. 
How do we lament that his age was passed, his ashes 
deposited in the earth, before this period arrived : 
that he was not permitted to await its approach ; and 
while contemplating this his favourite scene, to descry 
from afar the white sails of that ship of Alexandria, 
which brought to yonder port one of the wonders of 
that age he had longed to see — a mind no less noble 
than his own, conversant with subjects above bis bold- 
est conceptions, and actuated by motives which had put 
to the blush the vaunted wisdom of Athens, and fitted 
its possessor for a great and permanent example to the 
human race. Could Virgil but have imbibed the sen- 
timents and feelings of Saint Paul ! — how delightful 
it is to reflect on what he must have become ; and to 
trace, even in imagination, the range his soul would 
have taken, when taught to glow with the spirit of 
Christianity, and rapt in contemplating the glories of 
the true God. But it was not to such as he, that the 



NAPLES— LAKE OF AGNANO. 151 

changes of that remarkable period were designed to 
reach: the humblest minds were destined to be the 
most exalted, that things which were before esteemed 
great might be compared with their proper standard ; 
and how like the proudest structures of art scattered 
over the scene before us, did they shrink, and fade, 
and disappear, in the superior presence of truth and 
genuine virtue. 

Descending the hill, and returning by the splendid 
church of Piede Grotta, as far as the grotto of Posi- 
lipo, we passed along the valley of Bagnuoli, where we 
overtook two little boys on their way home from 
Naples. One of them had a round Neapolitan face, 
with bright black eyes and red cheeks, and was 
carrying a small bag of flour on his head. They 
inquired if we were going to the Lago d'Agnan\ clip- 
ping and drawling it according to custom, and offered 
to conduct us thither. We did not need a guide, but 
consented to take the little boy, on account of his 
beauty and his manners, which were those of nature, 
and of good nature too. He was a Neapolitan how- 
ever in every particular, for he insisted on an 
unreasonably large reward, and whers he found we 
should otherwise leave him behind, consented to be 
content with much less. Without betraying any dis- 
position to smile at our broken language, he would 
stop and ^x his fine eyes on us in serious attention, 
till he reminded me of the picture of the young Apollo 
learning music in the cabinet at Portici ; and would 
stop, lay down his bag, and instinctively resort to a 
thousand graceful and expressive signs, when we were 
slow in comprehending his meaning. He told us he 
lived near the shores of the lake, where his mother 
was now expecting him and his bag of flour, to make 
many sorts of good things for them to eat. Their 



152 NAPLES.— LAKE OF AGNANO. 

drink was water and. some wine, which was red indeed, 
but taken by him in such small quantities, that he did 
not believe it was that which produced the colour in 
his cheeks. He had taken up the business of cicerone, 
I presume, for the first time; yet with much gravity he 
began to throw out remarks on such things as we saw. 
There was a remnant of something like a Roman 
aqueduct on one side of the road, shaped like that 
near the lake of Avernus, and built outside of small 
square bricks, turned with one corner up, in the ancient 
reticulated form. Of this he knew nothing — but point- 
ing at a rough, heavy stone, which had fallen from the 
high hill through which the path had been cut, de- 
clared that was very antique. 

The lake is about three miles in circumference, and 
surrounded by high hills, which slope, like those of 
Avernus, with the greatest regularity. The prince is 
to make a fishing excursion there to-morrow, and 
boats were brought there on carts. The peculiar 
character of these lakes constantly reminds one of a 
crater, and always inclines me to refer them to a vol- 
canic origin. Two buildings are erected for the 
extraction of sulphur from the soil ; and at the foot of 
the hills are some Roman ruins, which, an old man 
told us, are called the city of Nero. The Dog's 
Grotto is close at hand. It is so called because a small 
animal going in, is temporarily suffocated by a heavy 
gas, which rises only afoot above the floor. 

Our little friend was impatient to go home. "Here 
is the Lago d'Agnan," said he, " and there is the grotto 
del Can', and now you have seen all." He pointed 
out his path, which followed the shore of the lake 
nearly half way round. " There it goes," said he, 
" across the turf near the water, and up the high 
hill opposite. On the ridge of the hill, you see a 



NAPLES. /53 

row of large trees. My home is just beyond. Will 
you go with me, and see how it opens upon you ?" 
We had no time, but sent him off' with a present which 
made him happy ; so taking up his burthen, he left us 
with a light heart, and hurried on to communicate the 
news of his good fortune. 

When we reached the great garden of Naples on 
our return, it was thronged with people, collected to 
witness a presentation of colours to the National 
Guard, who were paraded along the Chiaia — a fine 
broad street extending the whole length of it. Prince 
Ferdinand, who has been left with the regency of the 
kingdom during his father's absence, has entered 
heartily into the revolution, and bears the title of 
General of the Constitution. Soon after the declara- 
tion of the constitution last summer, the National 
Guard was raised for the defence of the country, and 
is chiefly composed of exempts. All that part of it 
raised in the city and neighbourhood, were now 
paraded here, to the number of seven or eight thou- 
sand ; and, after the colours had been received from 
Prince Ferdinand, were reviewed by him and his bro- 
ther Leopold, who both rode through the line with 
their children and attendants. Leopold married a 
daughter of the Emperor of Austria, who is now with 
her father; and he is therefore considered an enemy to 
the constitution. The soldiers however made no dis- 
tinction between the two brothers, but received them 
both with equal acclamations ; being stimulated to it 
by men who ran behind the lines, a little in advance of 
the procession, crying, viva ! viva ! in their ears. 

The princes and their families went to the Royal 
Palace, which is a monstrous structure with a high, 
flat, tasteless front, and stood at a balcony while the 
troops passed below. Notwithstanding the loquacity 

20 



154 Naples. 

of the soldiers in coffee-houses, we should have 
expected to find them silent on such an occasion as 
this : but many of them seemed to take little interest 
in what thej were doing, and often a whole squadron 
appeared to be in conversation. They were well 
made men, and extremely well dressed, and their 
mustachios, which they have been training ever since 
the declaration of the constitution, gave a fierceness to 
the expression of their features. 

At sun-set the eating-houses, or trattorias, were 
crowded with officers and soldiers, who became so 
noisy that they were intolerable. It was even dif- 
ficult to find a vacant table, as they often came with 
whole families, ladies included. On all ordinary occa- 
sions, these houses possess many accommodations; 
You may be retired and even solitary, have a long bill 
of fare to select your dinner from, and be furnished 
with tolerable wine at eight cents a bottle. 

But something less flattering must in justice be said 
of the coffee-houses, where many of the citizens 
resort in the morning. They are abundant in the 
principal streets, but small, and open with large doors, 
like the common shops here and in Pompeii. Not a 
window is to be seen in a coffee-house, nor indeed is 
any necessary. The floors are of stone, the tables small, 
the company mixed, the rooms ill supplied with ser- 
vants, and the servants with brooms. But this is not 
all. Boys offer you the Gazette, or "A letter to the 
Ministry," (for almost every body reads the news ;) 
a pedler urges you to purchase a knife, a bright buckle 
or a spotted handkerchief; shoe-blacks insist upon 
brushing your boots, while you are drinking your 
coffee ; a man sits next you who has come in merely 
to get his own cleaned ; and, to crown all, a miserable 
beggar, sick or deformed, ever and anon holds out his 



NAPLES. 155 

hand or catches your eye, and with a pitiable look, a 
serious manner and a low tone, implores you for a sin- 
gle grain, or a bit of the bread your are eating. 

When walking in the streets, we are singled out by 
every beggar we meet as strangers, and are pursued 
with his persevering petitions. Wherever they can 
find a vacant spot in the street, where they may bask 
in the sun, they collect by dozens, tw^enties, or fifties, 
and exhibit the most disgusting groups of poverty that 
can easily be imagined. The beggars of Naples are 
called Lazzaroni, and are poor in the extreme. They 
are idle ; but whether from necessity or choice I know 
not. 

Naples. — January 30. The Palace of Studies in 
Naples is the depository of all the curiosities found in 
Pompeii, with the exception of the paintings. Several 
long halls on the first floor are devoted to hundreds of 
statues, busts and vases, some of which are very fine, 
though the rest are of no great excellence. Hercules 
at rest, a colossal figure, occupies the most conspicuous 
place : but one of the most striking is a wounded 
Amazon, falling backwards from her horse. It is very 
natural, and much admired by Canova. Above, is a 
succession of large apartments, filled with shelves con- 
taining tools and utensils of all sorts, and in the great- 
est abundance. They are nearly all of bronze, as those 
of iron were corroded and consumed by salts con- 
tained in the ashes. Here are bells made of a flat 
piece of metal, which were carried in coaches to be 
struck on entering a narrow street ; cow-bells, made 
like common modern ones, except that they are round ; 
instruments found in the surgeon's house at Pompeii; 
stirrups, and various sorts of nails, much like ours ; 
play-tickets of ivory, in the shape of almonds, birds, 
&;c. with the numbers of the passages leading to the 



156 NAPLES. 

seats they belonged to ; a loaf of bread, quite black, 
but retaining its form, being scalloped at the edges, 
marked in quarters, and branded with the baker's 
name. There are great numbers of lamps of grace- 
ful, antique forms, made of clay or bronze, in some of 
which the wicks, and a dry crust left by the oil, are 
still found. There is a quantity of unground wheat, 
which preserves the forms of the kernels, though it is 
perfectly black, and converted to charcoal : not I 
presume by heat, but by a slow decomposition, for the 
ashes must have been cooled before they fell. I 
observed a great number of scales, and even steel- 
yards, made very much like ours. An oil-mill, found 
in Pompeii, we were assured is of the same descrip- 
tion with those now used in the neighbourhood. It 
consists of a mortar, made of a block of lava four feet 
high, and two hemispheres of the same revolving in it 
on a wooden axis, part of which remains bound with 
sheet-iron, which is fastened with small wrought nails. 
Here are a great many earthen jars, some four or five 
feet high, for grain, wine and oil ; and a large collec- 
tion of Etruscan vases. Several apartments beyond 
are devoted to suits of armour, altars, censers, house- 
hold gods, and beautiful cameos and intaglios. 

As we were leaving home this morning, we met 
one of our friends going to our lodgings, with an 
American gentleman just arrived from Rome. He 
was in the dress of a diligent and industrious tra- 
veller, stepped quick, and I thought had a hur- 
ried expression in his eye and manner, as if his 
journey were not quite finished. We inquired the 
news. " I narrowly escaped falling into the hands of 
the robbers at Terracina," said he, in a way that made 
us start. " They came down from the mountains, night 
before last, and took off fifteen or twenty boys from a 



JVAPLES.— CASERTA. 2 57 

school. The school-master and a soldier were killed 
in making resistance, and the country was in a state of 
alarm. The courier made the postillion set the horses 
into a gallop, as soon as he heard the news, and they 
ran all the way to Fondi. There is very little plea- 
sure in travelling that road, I assure you. You hardly 
see a man in all that tract of country, who does not 
look as if he were half an assassin." This intelli- 
gence was not very encouraging, particularly when we 
recollected that two Englishmen had lately been taken 
by this same band of robbers, and liberated only in 
consideration of a large sum of money. They had 

released one of them with a draft from Lord 

whom they detained, for 2000 napoleons ; and one of 
our companions happened to be present the other day, 
when it was presented and paid, at an English 
banker's. We inquired what was the news from 
Austria, and received for answer, that an army was on 
the march against the kingdom of Naples, and that, on 
this account, he was determined to return to Rome as 
soon as possible, allowing only a little time for seeing 
the curiosities in the neighbourhood. 

Naples, January 31. The old king of Naples has 
several palaces in the vicinity of the city, among 
which he divides his time ; and with the aid of an 
occasional fishing excursion on the Lucrine Lake, 
and a boar hunt in his parks, contrives to pass his life 
probably with as much enjoyment as he is capable of. 
Rural retirement has been the favourite of great and 
good men in all ages; and a taste for the chase has 
always been considered a manly if not a humane 
taste. But the king of Naples does not deserve the 
credit of being fond of rural retirement, nor even of 
possessing the spirit of a huntsman. He does nothing, 
it is said, towards raising or pursuing his game — that is 



1 5g NAPLES.—CASERTA. 

done by his attendants. Neither is he more fond of dan- 
ger than of fatigue, for if the animal be a powerful one, 
he chooses to await his approach in a place of safety, 
and shoot him down with the bloody disposition of a 
mere butcher. In the palace at Portici are shown 
several pictures, in which he is represented in his 
favourite employments ; and that of the boar-hunt 1 
viewed with peculiar disgust, because it exhibits 
decided proofs of a despicable disposition. Several 
boars, which have been driven into a small stream, are 
prevented from making their escape by a dam built 
across it, while high aloft, perched in security on the 
bridge above, " the king of the Two Sicilies" is seen 
firing among them, as they swim about here and there 
as harmlessly as so many tame swine. His Majesty's 
smile says it is excellent sport ; but I could think of 
nothing but the boar-hunt in Don Quixote, and of 
Sancho Panza in the cork-tree. 

I cannot allow to such a man as this, the soul to 
enjoy the delightful country seats he possesses, which 
1 believe owe their existence more to the common 
custom of European princes, and a fondness of useless 
expense. Considerations of this sort, however, need 
not prevent us from enjoying a sight of the palace and 
gardens of Caserta, particularly as the old king has 
gone to the congress of Laybach, and is not likely 
soon to return. Having taken our seats in a carozza, 
or public carriage, early this morning, we therefore set 
out, but were obliged to turn back and seek a new pas- 
sage several times, on account of a great military 
parade, as to-day the Constitutional Congress has 
been prorogued. The appearance of the troops is 
certainly much in their favour ; and if their spirit 
only half equals the accoutrements and their profes- 
sions, the new government is already insured. But 



NAPLES.— CASERTA, 2 59 

ah ! a Neapolitan must make a different sort of free- 
man from the men we are accustomed to call such. 

Just outside of the gate we were accosted by a priest, 
who rattled a small iron box in his hand with a few 
copper coins in it, called grani, and solicited our 
charity for the souls in purgatory. Men of the pro- 
testant belief could hardly be expected to contribute 
for such an object ; and therefore we did as we find 
most cathohcs do, passed on without noticing the peti- 
tioner. 

Our road lay across the Campagna di Lavoro ; this 
fertile and delightful plain, which, beginning at the 
base of Vesuvius just where the descent of the moun- 
tain gently subsides into a level, extends off* on three 
sides to the nearest ridges of the Appennines, from 
eight to fifteen miles distant. The ground was per- 
fectly smooth, and principally covered with vineyards, 
which, as the vines are trained on tall trees, are in 
reality so many groves. There were, however, many 
open fields devoted to various other crops, among 
which I recognized wheat, beans, flax, and lupines, all 
of a sufficient height, even at this early season, to form 
a coat of the richest green. The lupines are raised 
for cattle, and are the only food [ have seen the coach- 
men give their horses. The inn-keepers in the vil- 
lages sell them green, in small bundles, and they are 
made to supply the place of oats. We met several 
large droves of hogs going to market, all of them 
black, without bristles, and of an uncommon size. 
The sheep and the oxen were also very large, and the 
latter of a beautiful light grey. 

The whole appearance of the country intimated a 
thorough system of husbandry : the fields were 
defined with the utmost precision, and the crops were 
uniform throughout, though they were not separated 



1 50 NAPLES— CASERTA. 

either by hedge, wall or ditch. The sheep and pigSf 
that were seen feeding in droves upon some of the 
young crops, had evidently been bred with a direct 
reference to this state of things ; for with the atten- 
tion of only a man or a boy, they would proceed in a 
compact body round or across the field, eating every 
leaf and stem close to the ground, without infringing 
upon the adjacent property, and thus clear the whole 
with as much uniformity as a mower. This presented 
a striking contrast indeed to the roaming habits of our 
domestic animals, but had a little too much in it of the 
old regime to please me exactly. I was a little surprised 
to find that the shepherds here carry the same long 
stick, headed at one end, which I have seen among the 
Spaniards near Gibraltar. In several instances we saw 
parties of peasantry, women as well as men, working 
in the fields under the direction of overseers. They 
used either hoes or small shovels with long handles, 
and moved along in a line, with hardly any inclination 
of the body, apparently labouring with scarcely any 
fatigue and to very little purpose. The soil, as they 
dug it up, was of a deep black, well corresponding 
with its fertility ; yet in some places heaps of manure 
were laid on the ground, and I judged from appear- 
ances that some of the crops were raised only for the 
purpose of enriching it. 

Our view was often confined by extensive vineyards, 
sometimes for several miles together. The trees are 
of the natural form and size, and are made to support 
large vines; which minghng their branches with one 
another, at an equal height from the ground, make 
regular festoons about twenty feet over head, and must 
form in summer a complete roof of verdure, and the 
most delightful shade. The trees are placed in rows 
with such perfect regularity, that we could look 



KAPLES.—CASERTA. jg^ 

through their numerous vistas for a mile or more on 
either side, so that the novelty of the scene impressed 
me with high ideas of the perfection and beauties of 
Italian agriculture. 

This tract of country formed part of the " Campa- 
nia Felix" of the Romans, and to my eyes bears no 
indications of having lost any of that fertility, which 
in ancient times rendered it famous for the richness 
and abundance of its productions. It was in a good 
degree the luxuries supplied by this soil, which ren- 
dered the bay of Naples the resort of the wealthy 
Romans under the empire ; and I should be slow to 
believe that the soil alone has degenerated. In 
modern days it has been repeatedly sprinkled with 
volcanic ashes from Mount Vesuvius : but this should 
increase its fertility, for the best wine in the neigh- 
bourhood is made on the mountain itself. No, it is the 
inhabitants, or rather I should say the government 
Under which they live, that have produced the change. 
The labourers, apparently living under the full rigour 
of the feudal and the pontifical systems combined, are 
crowded together in little dirty villages, basely igno- 
rant and humiliated, without the power and without 
the disposition to improve : while the mellow and 
luscious fruits of their toil are sent to the palace and 
villa of the indolent and vicious landholder, or the 
overflowing treasury of some church or convent — the 
abodes of sloth and vacuity. What was exactly the 
state of things here in the days of Old Rome, I have 
no time to inquire : bad enough I know ; yet some 
impulse existed then which now has failed, since the 
products of the field are not purchased by foreign 
wealth ; and the natural consequence of that change 
acting with the present state of society, has converted 
the Campania Felix into the Campagna di Lavoro. 

21 



1 62 NAFLES.— C ASEKT A. 

The villages through which we passed bore the 
strongest marks of a poor and degraded population. 
Some of them must contain 5 or 6000 people ; yet the 
houses were low and small, and many of them, I will 
venture to say, not built since the discovery of Ame- 
rica. The windows showed vacant and dirty faces, 
the doors ill-furnished rooms, and heavy stone walls 
and floors deeply worn by the feet and hands of nume- 
rous generations. Nothing like anew house, nor even 
an improved or a repaired one was to be seen ; and I 
made up my mind while passing on, that not one of the 
men I saw looked capable of making a chair or a 
window-shutter, or even of putting a new button on 
his door. — The streets had once been paved, but the 
stones generally lay loose in the dust, and did more 
harm than good. Now and then we passed the high 
walls of some forbidden ground, the premises of a 
petty title-bearer, or the garden of some convent ; but 
every thing was concealed except the tops of the 
nearest trees, and nothing but the owners and the birds 
could conjecture at what they contained. 

It was an after-thought with me to draw a compari- 
son between these villages and our American towns, 
for there was nothing to make me think of it at the 
time. The houses were as closely built as those of a 
city, and the streets as narrow and uncomfortable. 
There was no neat and tasteful mansion which miffht 
be the residence of the lawyer, the physician or the 
clergyman, and there was not a single brushed coat 
or tidy gown in the street, to discountenance the 
universal poverty and slovenliness. — There might be 
a higher character hidden behind the walls of the 
convent or of the petty palace, but the other inhabi- 
tants are as much shut out from its intercourse as 
from the sight of the gardens and grounds^ which 



NAPLES.— CASERT A. ] 53 

in our country is equally participated by the rich 
and the poor. 

No one, indeed, can cast the most hasty glance 
about him, without being convinced that the state of 
society is entirely different from that among our- 
selves, and so different as to make him doubt what 
sort of change would ultimately prove most bene- 
ficial to the country. The people are ignorant and 
poor. Under the present (that is the late) state of 
things, they will always remain so. Overthrow the 
moral oppression of the priesthood and the political 
oppression of the lords, and you will make it pos- 
sible for them to improve. But what sort of govern- 
ment should be established in the mean time ?' 
There must be an interval, and a long one too, 
between the establishment of a new and better sys- 
tem, and the securing of that system by a propor- 
tionate improvement in the people. It must be 
a government which will not only protect the 
lives, the property and the independence of its sub- 
jects, but which will improve their minds and their 
habits. Now in what proportion should be mingled 
the ordinary elements of a supreme power ? The 
people will make but a sorry figure at legislation 
for some time yet to come, if we may judge from 
their appearance when at their daily occupations; 
and will the monarchical or the aristocratical 
branch of the national tree cherish and protect the 
infant shoot, for the express purpose of allowing it 
to rise high above and overshadow themselves ? 
This has not 't>een the inclination usually shown by 
them in other countries, but it must be so here, or, 
foV aught 1 can see, the Neapolitan people are 
likely to gain little by this revolution. 

But it is a cold task to reason thus, while they are 
praising the Constitution, levying troops around us, 



i 



164 NAPLES.-CASERTA. 

and exclaiming indignantly at the cowardly escape of 
the old king to Leghorn, on his way to Laybach. Let 
the trial be made then — at all events resist the expect- 
ed Austrians to blood; and now that a beginning has 
been made, proceed, and trust the event to Providence. 
— The result may be a more fortunate one than ig 
promised by the commencement. This long train of 
remarks and reflections was interrupted by our ap- 
proach to the Royal Palace of Caserta^ whose magnifi- 
cence, contrasted with the sublimity and loneliness of 
the mountains behind it, at once put far away all recol- 
lections of the distresses and the contentions of men. 
The situation which was selected for it was admirably 
chosen, so as to afford all the advantages of a smooth 
and fertile country, and of the immediate neighbour- 
hood of a range of mountains. A shady avenue a 
mile in length conducted us to the front of the palace^ 
while level and luxuriant fields still spread out on both 
sides, and the peaks of the naked Appennines ele- 
vated themselves high in front, their upper ridges 
entirely covered with snow. 

On reaching the end of the avenue, it may easily be 
imagined that the appearance of the palace was 
imposing, when it is mentioned that the building is of 
white marble, and presents a front of 746 feet. 

Strange as it may seem, the appearance of such an 
equipage as ours produced some bustle at the palace 
gate ; for during the absence of the royal family, the 
attendants have nothing to do but to wait on the 
strangers who come on visits of curiosity; and a small 
sum of money is in this country so mighty a thing, that 
the most distant hope of it is a full price for the most 
humble obsequiousness. So soon as it was discovered 
then that we had come to see the palace, and that we 
could not understand more than half that was said to 
us, a dozen men stepped forward to tender their set- 



NAPLES.— CASERTA. JQ^ 

vices, and nobody except the sentinel at the door, 
seemed unmoved by our presence. Two or three 
successive messengers soon brought out the custode or 
keeper, who, though he wore a long splendid livery, 
and was possessed of a promising exterior, accosted 
us with a bow so low that he seemed to have laid his 
humble service at our feet. We could scarcely move 
a hand or turn an eye without hearing " What does 
your excellency wish ?" — and all this for the antici- 
pated value of two shillings. 

Such serviHty at once blunted my taste, and half 
disgusted me with the magnificent objects to which we 
were introduced. There is something wrong here ; 
for while walls of marble are heaped up to the clouds, 
and hung with the richest productions of art, the 
mind of man is sunk in proportion, and humbled to 
the very dust. 

The palace occupies a quadrangular piece of ground 
746 feet long, and 564 broad ; it is divided into four 
large courts, and traversed by two spacious passages 
on the ground floor, which cross in the centre of the 
building. The grand stair case is here considered the 
most superb in Europe; whether justly or not 1 cannot 
tell. — It is very broad, the steps are ornamented with 
sculptured animals, and the walls entirely cased with a 
precious, variegated stone, found somewhere in the 
vicinity. This has a magnificent effect, and not a little 
resembles the doors of the ancient theatre in Hercu- 
laneum, yet the architecture is nearly lost in the con- 
fusion of shades and colours. 

The bare enumeration of all the apartments through 
which we were conducted, and the splendid statues 
and pictures with which they were decorated, would 
exhaust too much time, and after all would probably 
communicate but a Yery imperfect idea of their 



J 6(5 NAPLES.-CASERTA. 

appearance. From the enormous size of the palace, 
it may easily be supposed the halls and chambers are 
numerous, and of no ordinary dimensions. We were, 
indeed, quite weary with following the keeper through 
the long succession of halls of waiting, and halls of 
audience, entrance chambers, guard chambers, pages' 
waiting chambers, dining rooms, breakfast rooms, 
banqueting rooms, libraries, cabinets, antichambers, 
baths and bed rooms ; and were more astonished at 
their magnificence than pleased with their accommo- 
dation to the convenience of men. The walls are 
usually hung with silk, and the floors are all made 
either of small red bricks or of party-coloured stucco ; 
and the only things to be seen like carpets, were three 
or four small coarse mats, not near so large as the 
rooms, and too poor and mean for the house of one of 
our day-labourers. Carpets, however, are almost as 
Tare here as palaces are in America, and the king him- 
self would hardly miss it if that in his bed-chamber 
were removed. The ceilings are all vaulted and 
splendidly painted by the best masters of fresco or 
water-colours ; so that in admiring the beauties of 
the palace, not only our feet were benumbed, but 
our necks almost broken by looking upwards. The 
king's chapel is large enough for a small church ; 
and there are two theatres in the palace, one of 
which is of such size and elegance that it is consi- 
dered inferior to none in Naples, except that of San 
Carlo — the most splendid in Europe. 

The Gardens are situated in the rear of the palace, 
and are of very great extent. From the entrance of 
the palace, the eye ranges through the principal pas- 
sage, and along the whole length of the grand avenue, 
no less than two miles long, at the end of which is an 
artificial cascade, so formed as to resemble an im- 



NAPLES.— CASERTA. j 57 

mense Corinthian column. Every thing here is plan- 
ned on a scale truly magnificent : indeed the palace 
and the gardens are decidedly too large for men, and 
better proportioned to the size of giants. 

On the left, we entered the forest^ which is a thick 
wood, occupying one corner of the garden; and fol- 
lowed our guide through many unfrequented paths, 
which wound along under the shade of tall trees and 
shrubs. In several places, the paths emerged from 
the woods into handsome grass-plats, with a few clus- 
ters of evergreens, and were ornamented with marble 
statues, beautifully relieved against the foliage. There 
we met with a fish-pond, in the midst of which is 
an island, containing a cottage and two kitchens, 
where the king occasionally makes a repast, crossing 
the water by a little rope-ferry. In another place is 
a castle, built for the purpose of instructing the young 
princes in the art of war. It is not above twenty feet 
in height, but is furnished with a moat, towers, and 
battlements, and is accessible only by a draw-bridge. 

All the water in the garden is derived from the cas- 
cade, at the farther end. There we at length arrived, 
and reposed ourselves for a time, at the foot of the 
rock down which it is precipitated. The fall is 100 
or 150 feet, and at its foot is a broad basin of white 
marble, in which are two mossy rocks, ornamented 
with groups of beautiful statues. The first of these 
represents Diana and her nymphs bathing, and the 
other Acteon, just changing into a stag and attacked 
by his own hounds. 

The view from this place was extensive and remark- 
ably fine. The water from the cascade, following the 
broad avenue, sometimes spread out in large fish- 
ponds, and sometimes sunk under ground ; then re- 



IQ^ NAPLES.— CASERTA. 

appearing, burst out from rocky caverns, and flowing 
along to the next terrace, poured over the descent in 
one smooth sheet, or dividing itself into numerous 
channels, dashed among the rocks, and spouted from 
the mouths of marble animals and sea-monsters. The 
ponds abound with fine large fish, and before us were 
two beautiful Arabian gazels lying upon the grass. 
The place where we stood was so much elevated by 
the successive terraces, that we overlooked the whole 
garden, and the palace, which was now two miles offT 
Beyond was seen the beautiful Campagna di Lavoro; 
then the bay of Naples, with the islands Capri and 
Ischia on the right, and Mount Vesuvius on the left. 
A scene like this, so overflowing with the beauties 
of art, and the magnificence of nature, seemed abso- 
lutely wasted on such a being as the grovelling minded 
king of Naples. O, this land is deserving of better 
masters ! 

Not far from the cascade is the entrance to the En^ 
glish garden^ which is about three miles in circumfe- 
rence. After a walk among the gentle hills, where 
the prospect was continually changing from thick 
woods to open spaces scattered with shrubs and 
large, solitary trees, we came to a little path, which 
after a few windings disappeared below, among the 
shades of a dark wood. We followed it under clus- 
ters of deep evergreens and overhanging rocks; and, 
in several places, through grottos roughly cut out of 
the solid stone, so narrow and crooked that we could 
hardly force a passage, and so dark that we often had 
to feel our way; when suddenly we found ourselves 
on the banks of a small, silent pond, so surrounded 
by trees, that it seemed as if twilight had shut in, 
while every distant object, and every breath of wind 



NAPLES.— CAbERTA. j gg 

were entirely excluded. The surface of the pond was 
half covered with the leaves of water-piants, and not 
a sound was heard, except the dashing of a little foun- 
tain, which started into the air close beside us. The 
shores were made of a broken ledge of rocks, which 
had been hollowed out so as to form a succession 
of grottos half round the pond, and so skilfully chis- 
selled, as to present a most perfect imitation of the 
antique. Indeed I am now half disposed to question 
whether the excavations were not formed by the old 
Romans, such was their appearance of antiquity. The 
different apartments and passages are feebly lighted 
by small openings towards the pond, and are usually 
named after the mutilated statues with which they 
are respectively decorated. In one place, a part of 
the roof had fallen in, and the fragments of Roman 
bricks were still lying on the floor, while vines and 
creeping plants hung down through the aperture, some 
of them gay with blossoms. 

A blind path led us away from this secluded spot, 
which seemed too much like fairy land for any scene 
in this world ; and we were soon lost among the neigh- 
bouring groves, where trees and shrubs are mingled 
with as much disorder as in an American forest. Emer- 
ging at length, we came again to smooth, sloping 
grounds, shaded here and there with neat clusters of 
trees, and gently declining to the margin of a clear 
river. On the banks were two or three cottages, and 
several ancient Corinthian columns, some standing, 
and others fallen down, probably arranged by art, 
yet so placed, as to seem the remains of some magni- 
ficent heathen temple. This was a master-touch — a 
mode of referring to antiquity of which the Italians 
are peculiarly fond, and which generally adds a men- 
tal interest to their artificial, as well as their natural 

22 



|7() NAPLES— CASERTA. 

scenes, inseparable from the soil, and incapable of 
being transferred to most other countries. 

The old town of Caserta is situated on one of the 
rude hills behind the cascade ; and to it is annexed a 
ducal title, which has now reverted to the king. We 
went into the modern village to find our carriage. It 
is truly a wretched place, though it probably may 
contain three or four thousand inhabitants. The beg- 
gars were a great annoyance, comii»g round us in sick- 
ening groups of blind, maimed, weak and deformed : 
each making his own misfortunes as conspicuous as 
possible, and begging for a little money. It is natural 
to inquire whether the king's superfluous treasures 
might not have been spent, in some way, by which 
these his wretched subjects, both as monarch and 
duke, should have been supplied with some stimulus 
to industry and improvement. Now, they discredit 
both him and their country in the eyes of every 
stranger. 

The grand aqueduct, by which the cascade, and 
the fish-ponds in the gardens are supplied with water, 
is twenty-seven miles in length, following its wind- 
ings ; and the water is brought from the Volturno, in 
the territory of St. Agatha of the Goths. It turns 
eight mills in its course, and in many places much 
labour has been bestowed in raising and sinking the 
level ; but the most wonderful part of the whole work 
is about five miles from Caserta. The valley of Mad- 
dalone is crossed by an aqueduct, which is consi- 
dered one of the noblest architectural productions 
of modern times, and in many respects equal to some 
of the finest remains of antiquity in Italy. Two oppo- 
site hills are pierced by tunnels, both of which toge- 
ther make a subterranean passage for the water, 
nearly four English miles in length ; and it is carried 



NAPLES.— CASERTA. 171 

across the deep valley between them, on the top of 
three ranges of arches, built in pure taste, of hewn 
stone. The pilasters of the first tier of arches, are 
Doric, the middle, Ionic, and the upper, Corinthian ; 
and some idea may be formed of the magnificence of 
the sight, from the fact that the pilasters of the first 
order are fifty feet high. 

During our ride home from Caserta, our conversa- 
tion naturally turned on our intended journey to Rome. 
We have been on shore only ten or twelve days, yet the 
weather has been remarkably fine for the season, even 
in this climate ; for we find that the winters here are 
usually unpleasant, the temperature frequently vary- 
ing, and wind, mist and rain prevailing for several 
months. Such was the greater part of our quaran- 
tine; but it most fortunately terminated forty-eight 
hours before we were permitted to land, and was suc- 
ceeded by clear skies and warm weather. The tem- 
perature and the state of the roads are most favour- 
able for making excursions; and the atmosphere is 
so pure and transparent, that the promontories and 
islands 'on the opposite side of the bay of Naples, are 
visible almost every day; while the lava, which slowly 
flows down the side of Vesuvius, is seen almost every 
night from the city, as if the mountain were sprinkled 
with burning coals, or girdled with a belt of dia- 
monds. Many delightful places, and some antiquities 
of secondary interest, still remain unseen; and we 
have meditated an excursion to Pesto, the ancient 
Poestum, where the ruins of a temple of Neptune and 
one of Ceres, present some of the noblest remains of 
ancient architecture, and the only specimens in exis- 
tence of the severe old Etruscan style. But we have 
determined to hasten our departure on several ac- 
counts. Our time is limited, and a long journey lies be- 



172 NAPLES.— CASERTA. 

fore us, which, if we proceed as we have begun, must 
necessarily be very laborious. A large Austrian army 
of eighty thousand men, it is said, is actually on its 
march towards the kingdom of Naples : and the daily 
accounts of its situation are so inconsistent, that we 
cannot conjecture when it may be expected at Rome, 
or even at Florence. We are very unwilling to delay 
our departure until it shall reach this neighbourhood, 
as we must expect obstacles in passing through it; 
and it is more than probable that we should not, in 
such a case, be permitted to leave the kingdom until 
its fate had been decided. 

We all agree that no time is to be lost. The mili- 
tary are making a great show in the city every day, 
and, if we are to believe their professions, will fight 
most desperately. Many foreigners and citizens are 
leaving the country, and we have determined to has- 
ten as much as possible, to escape the inconvenien- 
ces of a war in which we have no concern. But the 
next question is, in what mode shall we travel ? The 
corriere, who leaves here every other day for Rome, 
carries the mail in a coach in which three passengers 
may travel. This is not only very expensive, but much 
too hasty for so interesting a tract of country as that, 
over which lies a considerable part of Horace's jour- 
ney to Brundusium, and where St. Paul travelled on 
his way from Puteoli to Rome. The vettura is the 
common conveyance of Italians ; and, as it stops 
every night and travels very leisurely all day, affords 
every desirable opportunity for seeing the road. Be- 
sides, the expense is not half So great as with the cor- 
riere. We all preferred the vettura on these ac- 
counts; but there was another subject to be consi- 
dered. The banditti of Terracina, so long known 
for the depredations they have committed on travel- 



JNAPLES. 273 

lers, have within three days made prisoners of two 
Englishmen^ and carried fifteen or twenty children 
into the mountains : at the same time shooting their 
schoolmaster and a sentinel. It was urged in favour 
of choosing the corriere, that the robbers have never 
dared to attack one of them, as the transportation of 
the mail is under the care of the king; and this finally 
determined my friends to take their seats in his vehi- 
cle, and to begin their journey in a few days. There 
has been, on the contrary, no late instance of a single 
vettura being stopped by the robbers, though several 
such carriages pass every day the frontier of the king- 
dom, the country infested by them. On account of 
the cheapness of the vettura, it is to be presumed that 
the poorest travellers would usually avail themselves 
of it, and therefore, that they would offer very little 
temptation to the avidity of banditti ; and as this mode 
of travelling offers a very desirable opportunity for 
seeing, at leisure, the whole road, I have determined 
to travel by myself, and rejoin my friends at Rome. 

The common process of making a contract with a 
vetturino, or coachman, may give some ideas of the 
character of the Neapolitans for good faith. I never 
would condemn a nation in the gross; but I think a 
traveller can hardly visit Naples, without being struck 
with the disposition to cheat him manifested by almost 
every person with whom he has any concern. A 
foreign merchant, who has resided here several years, 
declared to me, that a contract is never considered 
binding in Naples, unless it has been committed to wri- 
ting ; and that the native merchants are so complete mas- 
ters of the language of signs, that two persons of the 
same party, while negociating with another, often ex- 
press their opinions by various ordinary motions, to 
which they have previously agreed to fix some arbi- 



174 



NAPLES. 



trary meaning. In making a bargain with a coachman 
to-day for a conveyance to Rome, I made him sign a 
paper, by which he promised to give me a seat in 
the front of his carriage, be on the road only five 
days, and give me, at his own expense, a dinner every 
day, and a bed every night, all for the sum of seven 
ducats, or five dollars and sixty cents ; and provided 
1 should be satisfied with his services, half a dollar 
more for himself To bind the bargain, the coach- 
man gives a ducat, which, by common law, is to be 
retained if he fails in performing the contract; or^ 
if the traveller gives up his journey, must be returned 
doubled. 

The lazzaroni are the most wretched set of beings 
we have met with ; and any one of them in America, 
would be entitled to universal commiseration. They 
are seen collected in groups wherever they can find 
a sunny spot in winter, and present many a revolting 
spectacle. They are half clad in tattered garments ; 
famine and exposure to the weather give them a ca- 
daverous expression of face, shrivel their flesh, and 
produce an habitual stoop and feeble gait, as if their 
frames were loosened, and ready to sink to the ground. 
They make small fires at this season, to cook whatever 
they have to eat, and to warm themselves. Little curls 
of smoke are seen rising among heaps of rubbish; or, 
on the shore, from behind a boat drawn up, where 
clusters of these wretches collect about a few coals. 
They are found in every place where a stranger may 
be expected : in churches, streets, quays, coffee-hou- 
ses, places of curiosity, on every high hill, and under 
every green tree. They surround you, and disturb 
you so often with their clamorous petitions, that you 
forget their real wretchedness, and regard them only as 
your tormentors. You are ready to ask, why do you 



NAPLES. 



175 



spend your time thus in idleness? Why are you wan- 
dering about the city ? And forget that they have no 
home but the streets. 

My friends set off for Rome last evening; and, as I 
am to begin my five days journey to-morrow morning, 
I have spent the day in taking my farewell of this place, 
in which I have enjoyed so much, that I must always 
regard it as a kind of enchanted land. The Villa 
Reale, the great garden on the low margin of the bay, 
commands a view which it is not easy to forget. One 
of my countrymen, I think, will always have particular 
cause to remember it; for here it was that his mind 
seemed first to recover its natural tone, after the trials 
of a long and dangerous journey. Having spent a few 
months in Paris, he had felt, while travelling in Italy, 
that the blessings of life were fast abandoning him; 
and was surprised at the new demands which every 
city made on his diminished store of comforts. On 
reaching Naples, he hesitated not to declare that we 
had begun our travels at the right end of Europe, and 
indeed of creation ; and that his only remaining conso- 
lation was, that he had reached the southern point of 
his tour. Welcomed on the frontier with fresh tales 
of murder; narrowly escaping captivity, and perhaps 
death, in the country of banditti; beset with beggars 
in that sacred retreat, the coffee-house, and with swarms 
of fleas in his bed-chamber; he was, for a time, too 
much occupied with unexpected distresses, to allow 
his mind its usual range. Last evening however, dur- 
ing a stroll through this garden, the scene at once re- 
stored him to himself; all the poet broke out, and he 
exclaimed with his characteristic and amiable enthusi- 
asm : " They are right, they are right, who say there 
is not another place in the world like Naples ! Only 
look at that bay, stretching out to the horizon, and 



176 ROAD TO ROME. 

Capri, so clearly seen though it is thirty miles ofE You 
fancy you can see every little wave on the surface of 
the water. The transparency of the air was never 
exceeded in the world — and then the colours ! — ^Who 
ever saw a softer purple than that in the west — and 
see how it spreads over the sides of the dark promon- 
tories. Now turn this way and look at Posilipo. What 
a noble hill — stretching out so boldly to such a distance, 
with an irregular surface and naked cliffs of yellow 
rock, made on purpose to be set off" with villas, hang- 
ing gardens, and clusters of trees — and then the long, 
arching bay, which sweeps around so gracefully to its 
foot — see how white the sandy beach is shining in the 
twilight — how silently those painted boats are rowing 
to the shore ; and yonder groups of men and women, 
in such picturesque dresses and attitudes, are drawing 
their nets. No wonder the Romans loved this place : 
the same spirit that made them love poetry and sculp- 
ture, the iEneid, and the Apollo Belvidere, brought 
them hither. What made them prefer Rome to the 
world, made them prefer Raise to Rome. The taste 
that induced them to build a city of palaces, baths and 
temples, made them relinquish it and yield the palm to 
this master-piece of nature. Was there ever such a 
scene ? Was there ever such a sea, was there ever 
such a sky ? Look at it again — if this weather should 
be interrupted, we may be seeing it for the last time; 
and if you forget it, you never can refresh the impres- 
sion by any other sight, if you were to make a voyage 
round the globe in search of its fellow. 

Sant 'Agata DEI GoTi.— jPc^. 3, in the evening, 1 was 
roused to begin my journey this morning long before 
day -light, and seated myself in the front of the carriage, 
the place I had chosen because it offers every advan- 
tage for seeing the country. It is indeed not so warm 



ROAD TO ROME. jy^ 

as the interior; yet there is always a boot which comes 
breast high, and leathern curtains can be drawn before, 
so that one is completely covered from the weather, 
and at the same time has small glasses before him to 
look through. My bread and cheese, and a bottle of 
Pozzuoh wine, were hardly stowed in the pocket on 
one side, when the coach was proclaimed to be ready 
-^four persons got in, and a gentleman clambered up 
and seated himself by my side, saying in Italian, "Ex- 
cuse me sir." It was so dark I could not see his face ; 
but, from his pronunciation, I instantly knew him for 
an Englishman, and he was gratified as well as surpri- 
sed, to hear me address him in his own language. He 
started, and tried to look at me, but it was too dark. 
" Pray sir," said he, " when did you leave England ?'' 
When he found I was an American, he said that would 
do nearly as well, and that he was glad to find himself 
gradually approaching his own country, and meeting 
more who could speak English, after an absence of 
-several years. 

The lazzaroni were seen collected closely together 
about small fires in the open air ; and as they half stood, 
half lay down, some awake and watching the fires, the 
light showed such rents in their clothes, and such 
melancholy expressions in their faces, that I sincerely 
pitied them. They are rogues all day, it is true : but 
they are wretches all night. My new companion and I 
were not long in forming an acquaintance. It was im- 
possible to see any thing along the road, or even the 
vetturino, who rode the near horse, for it was a little 
before day, which is the darkest hour of night ; but, as 
we were on the Campagna di Lavoro, and indeed on the 
road to Caserta, it was of little consequence. My com- 
panion told me, in a voice which any one would trust 
for its frankness, that he had been living several years 

23 



178 ROAD TO ROME. 

in Constantinople, and had lately arrived from Greece, 
having made the tour of the islands on his way to Eng- 
land. At daj-break, 1 discovered in his profile a 
regular set of features, drawn with boldness, yet pos- 
sessing an expression of frankness of disposition, not a 
little increased by the display of his forehead, from 
which he had thrust back his travelling cap. At the 
proper distance from an aquiline nose, was stationed 
an eye, so black that it seemed visible only because it 
was darker than the shades of night. 

A short acquaintance with a volcanic country, is 
almost sufficient to make one a disciple of Hutton ; and 
as the conical summits of the mountains rose more dis- 
tinctly into view, I became more and more convinced 
that they sloped at the true volcanic angle. But when 
the loose rocks with which they were scattered, began 
to show their lime-stone faces, and the dust in the road 
grew almost as white as flour, my theoretical hopes 
took a hasty leave, and went into voluntary banish- 
ment. A light column of smoke, which a moment be- 
fore had seemed to me a smothered crater, excited a 
question among my fellow-travellers, which was prompt-^ 
]j answered by another with a double entendre: "The 
fire among the mountains ? It is the work of the Car- 
bonari." This political society, which has brought 
about the revolution by its secret operations, derives 
its name from its founder, who once concealed himself 
in Sicily, and gained a living by becoming a collier or 
earbonaro. 

My English companion sought to amuse me, with 
interesting; tales of the Grecian islands ; but had im- 
bibed in Constantinople ideas so unfavourable to the 
Greeks, that he called them rebels instead of patriots, 
and spoke to my gratification only, when he described 
their desolated shores, and ancient cities. He has 
lately trodden the soil of Athens, and Sparta, and dilates 



ROAD TO ROME. ] 79 

on the ancient tumuli, and the broken columns half 
buried by time, on the plain of old Troy. Long and 
agreeable was his conversation on these subjects, and 
double was the pleasure to be enjoyed by the mind, in 
making continual comparisons between the past and 
the present, both in that country, and other parts of the 
earth. We recurred to the time when the Carthagin- 
ian army held their camp in Capua, when these regions 
stood in the presence of Hannibal, trembling and suflfer- 
ing under those recent acts of military rigour, which 
so long secured to him the name of the dread of parents, 
[" Parentibusque abominatus Annibal."] Then came 
up the calm and classic days when Virgil, Varius, 
and Plotius passed along this beautiful plain under 
the tranquillity of the reign of Augustus; and the 
topics with which they might have beguiled the time, 
as they approached yonder Capua, little prepared to 
meet their friend and fellow-poet Horace, on his jour- 
ney to Brundusium, while yet were unsung the warm 
and glowing lines in which that incident has been 
handed down to posterity : 



■' Postera lux oritur raulto gratissima : namque 
Plotius et Varius Sinuessae, Virgiliusque 
Occurrunt; animae, quales neque candidiores 
Terra tulit, neque queis me sit devinctior alter, 
O qui amplexus, et gaudia quanta fuerunt ! 
Nil ego contulerim jucundo sanus amico." 



•'Next morning's sun arose with lig-ht more faii-, 
For Varius, Plotius, Virgil, met we there : 
Souls, such as never out of heav'n were found, 
Friends to my heart with strong- affection bound — 
O ! what embraces, and what joys attend ! 
In vain to me the world without a friend." 

Not long afterwards, but with what different, what 
more exalted reflections, had proceeded along this 



] 30 ROAD TO ROME. 

road the centurion Julius with his prisoner Paul. We 
fancy some of the Christians from Puteoli in his com- 
pany, and his thoughts sublimely occupied on the words 
of his dream, "Thou shalt testify of me also in Rome." 
Capua is situated five miles from the ancient city of 
that name, once the winter quarters of Hannibal. The 
old city, at this distance, promises little of that luxury 
which in ancient times proved so fatal to the Cartha- 
ginians. The modern town, which however is several 
centuries old, stands on the borders of the plain, near 
the beginning of the Appennines ; and here we stopped 
two hours at noon to refresh our horses. This was the 
first time the horses had stopped since leaving Naples, 
even to drink. We drove into an inn-yard, which was 
surrounded by buildings, followed by two other vetture, 
or coaches like our own, which we found were to ac- 
company us all the way to Rome. It was a new thing 
to me to find that no one of the travellers seemed to 
think of entering the inn. Some kept their seats, and 
producing their wine-bottles and bread and cheese, 
began to eat and drink as if they had been at home. 
The inside of our coach soon became the scene of 
much hilarity, in spite of the shrivelled hands of beg- 
gars occasionally thrust in at the windows. A French 
lady, a young man born in Turkey, (her son-in-law,) a 
Tuscan, and a Neapolitan, had begun to exhibit more 
festivity over an unreasonably light repast, than is some- 
times to be found at a regular banquet. Others had 
descended and formed clusters in the sunny corners of 
the yard, leaning against broken carriages and farming 
utensils, which were piled up together. Two young 
men in peculiar dresses conversed together in a rough 
language, probably German, but most of the rest were 
perfect strangers to each other, as well as to ourselves. 
It was evidently unfashionable for travellers to enter 



ROAD TO ROME. Igj 

an inn on an occasion like this ; for, though the liorses 
were unharnessed by the ostlers, led into the stables, 
and treated with marked attention, no one appeared to 
invite us into the house. 1 ventured however to take 
a peep within doors, but saw nothing very desirable — 
four or five boors drinking wine, at a large, coarse ta- 
ble, in a monstrous, empty room ; and, in another place, 
a smaller apartment, containing only a number of old 
harnesses. 

Taking a walk through a few muddy streets, my 
new friend and I entered a church, where as usual a 
pale beggar-boy took up, of his own accord, the office 
of a cicerone, and began to give us the history of the 
chapels, and the pictures with which they were hung; 
adding with great fluency divers original remarks, 
till we felt ashamed to be instructed by so ragged 
and pedantic a wretch, and ordered him angrily to 
hold his tongue. But he instantly fell a begging, and 
thus continued to torment us alternately with his 
poverty and his wisdom. When we stopped to admire 
a picture, he began with the calm tone of a connoi- 
seur: '' That, gentleman, is so fine a copy, that you 
may perhaps have taken it for an original, — most 
others do the same — " or, " this painting of the holy 
mother is much esteemed — particularly if you will 
stand where I do, you must admire the expression of 
her face, and the colouring of the whole." ''Stand out 
of my way, you rogue," cried my friend, for he spoke 
Italian fluently, " and keep your learning to yourself" 
" Date mi qualche cosa !" [give me something,] cried 
he, with a piteous tone : so paying him for his instruc- 
tion, we fled into the street and went home, where w^e 
were again beset by the beggars about the inn, as if 
they had not seen us before. " Sir," said a woman, 
coming up to me with such diffidence that I thought 
it was the first time she had ever begged, "do you 



Ig2 ROAD TO ROME. 

speak Neapolitan ? I dare say you can understand 
enough to know that I am a poor woman, and have 
lost my husband, who was an officer, and was killed 
in Sicily, i have four little children," she continued, 
holding up four fingers, " whom I have no means of 
supporting. They are only so high, and are now at 
home crying with hunger; for 1 have no bread to give 
them." She then imitated their sobbing and crying, 
"Ma! Ma! — do you understand me,- sir .^ — Four little 
children — very young — you are a Frenchman, I per- 
ceive — but I am sure you know how to pity me. Per- 
haps you have a wife : think how she would feel if you 
should die in Italy, and leave her helpless and a beg- 
gar." My hand was already on my purse ; but I thought 
of the length of the journey before me, and of the resolu- 
tions I had made; yet F gave her a little money, and 
she withdrew. Our vetturino, a large, good-natured 
man, asked me if I had given that woman any thing ? 
" Yes." '' You have thrown away your money, sir," 
said he with a shrug, and passed on. 

Soon after leaving Capua, the road begins lo wind 
among conical hills, which increase in size till they 
gradually grow to mountains; but keeps for a long 
time on the same level, by following the narrow green 
vallies at their feet. The first turn of the road shut 
out the sight of the vineyards, with which the great 
plain is covered; and nothing was to be seen but 
groves of dark green olive trees, climbing the hills as 
far up as there was any soil, and ending abruptly at 
the bare, rocky tract which usually spread over their 
summits. The olive might easily be mistaken for an 
apple tree at a little distance — the colour of the ever- 
green leaves is nearly the same, as well as the colour 
of the trunk, and the shape of the boughs. 

When the road, at length, began to ascend, it gave 
US a dehs^htful view between two mountains, over the 



ROAD TO ROME. |g3 

campagna, and the sea, far behind, with a last sight of 
Ischia and Vesuvius. 

An hour after sun-set we arrived at St. Agata, and 
drove through a dark gate into the yard of the inn, 
which is very old, and built of whitish stone. The 
yard has the house on two sides, and the buildings 
connected with it complete the square. A spacious, 
but half furnished dining room, is on the second floor; 
and a gallery runs along the other wing, which looks 
into the yard, and gives access to a dozen or fifteen 
bed-chambers, the last of which are situated over the 
stable. The great gates were immediately shut and 
locked ; and while we were waiting in the dining 
room, a large pan of coals was brought in and set 
upon the brick floor ; for there was no fire-place to 
be seen. Here was collected a party of thirteen men, 
and two ladies, one of whom my friend whispered me 
he understood was a countrywoman of his. She sat 
opposite, with an infant in her arms, and had a white 
complexion and blue eyes : unlike all the females I 
had seen in the country. My friend invited me, in 
English, to sit nearer the fire. The little blue-eyed 
woman started, looked at him an instant, and, as the 
colour began to come over her pale cheeks, inquired 
modestly and in a sweet voice, " You speak English, 
sir — have you been in England lately ?" " It is many 
years," he replied. " But sir, you speak my language 
better than any other foreigner I ever saw. Did you 
go to England to learn it ?" " No, I happened to be 
born there." "Indeed, sir? I am very glad to see a 
countryman. And is this gentleman an Englishman 
also .^" " No," I answered, " I am from America." " You 
speak so much like us, sir, that I am sure I could not 
have thought so; and there is so little difference be- 
tween us, that I am as glad to see you as if you had 
come from my own country. I dare say you must find 



184 ROAD TO ROME. 

every thing appearing very strange here, for I canriol 
think that any place where they speak English can 
be like Italy. They told me I should get used to it ; 
but I have seen much of it, and still feel that I shall 
never be content out of old England." 

During our conversation, our fellow-travellers gath- 
ered round us, and stood hstening with surprise and 
a little supprc f^sed mtnimeiit, at the harsh sound of 
our language, till we were all summoned to the long 
dinner-table, where our coachman sat down among 
us with an air of equality. A bottle of decent red 
wine, and a napkin, were placed for each person ; and 
maccaroni soup, a boiled and fried dish, which 1 could 
not comprehend, boiled mutton, fennel, salad, oranges, 
and cheese, were served up, one at a time. While we 
were discussing our meah a dissertation was begun on 
the dangers of the road, headed by the Tuscan, of 
whom I have spoken before. He is a tall, raw-boned 
man, and pronounces Italian with such aspirates, that 
it sounds full as hard as the language of the two Ger- 
mans, and is so ludicrous to me that I could scarely 
keep myself in a state of gravity. He was very fluent; 
and, after giving at length the story of the robbers 
and the schoolmaster at Terracina, with some im- 
provements, together with the particulars of an attack 
on some travellers, of which we had not heard, pro- 
posed that we should rise to-morrow at " one hour 
after midnight," in order to pass the spot of danger 
early after noon. We proposed a few questions 
and objections : hut the talkative Tuscan so over- 
w^helmed us with words, that we became silent through 
disgust, though less convinced, and less disposed to 
be so, than ever. 

After dinner, when the conversation had grown still 
more earnest and loud, the young German, (for his 
companion proves to be a Norwegian,) made a long 



KOAD TO ROME. ] 85 

Speech, in broken French, to the few who could under- 
stand him, on the subject of the robbers. He insisted 
that we should go on without fear, and, if attacked, 
defend ourselves — With what? — " With our fists — and, 
if overpowered bj numbers, die gloriously !" 

From the midst of such a Babel, it was pleasant to 
retire to the fire-pan, and listen to a language which 
it cost me no exertion to comprehend. Three or four 
of the party were already there ; and among them my 
new acquaintance, the tidy little Englishwoman. She 
assured me that the Italians all talk a great deal, and 
do nothing; and that she knew the Neapolitans would 
never fight the Austrians, for they were only vaunting. 
She said she had been among the unfortunate ones : had 
left Rome a few months before, where her residence 
had been for several years, in company with her hus- 
band, who is one of our party, to go to " Palarmo^^ to 
keep a hotel. During one of the recent insurrections, 
her house was entered in the night by the mob, 
who ransacked it for General Church, formerly a 
lodger there. Not finding him they became enraged, 
threw the furniture into the street and set it on fire, 
while she and her husband narrowly escaped, half 
dressed. She saw her property burning in the street 
for thirty hours, and her husband at length seized, and 
thrown into prison, where he was confined for some 
weeks, on the charge of having facilitated the general's 
escape. She forbore being more particular in her 
description of the outrages committed, because the 
shocking scenes she has witnessed have very much 
' disordered her nerves. She therefore only hinted at 
having seen murders committed in the streets, and dis- 
severed limbs borne about the city, then with shud- 
dering changed the subject to speak of Italy, 

24 



186 KOAB TO ROME. 

" They have nothing comfortable here," said she, 
^*no fire-places, no carpets. The Italians are very 
disagreeable to me, having no idea of truth or cleanli- 
ness,'''^ She travels in the coach with the high-spirited 
young German, whose courage, however, she very 
much distrusts. " Do not regard them, sir," she said, 
" when they attempt to frighten you about the rob- 
bers. For my own part, I believe Italians are gene- 
rally cowards, though they are so valiant and boastful 
w^hen out of danger." In speaking of the comfortless- 
ness of this country, she pointed at the Frenchwoman, 
who was sitting contentedly by the fire-pan, and said, 
that though they have a clear sky and a warm climate, 
she should "prefer a rainy day in England, a neat 
carpeted house, and a good rousing fire^ 

Castello di Gaet a. —February 4, {evening,^ Not- 
withstanding the decision of the majority last even- 
ing, we slept until day-light, when we were summoned 
to begin our day's journey. At four in the afternoon 
we reached the river Garigliano, which we crossed by 
a bridge of boats, and passed through a gate defended 
by two old weather-beaten towers. Just beyond, I 
saw the arches of an ancient aqueduct, and walked 
on to the spot, while the coaches were delayed for 
a few minutes at the river. The ruins stand on a 
plain a mile or two in extent, now uninhabited, though 
partly covered with young wheat. Several shape- 
less masses of masonry, in different places, show 
where massive buildings once stood ; though they 
leave it entirely doubtful whether they were palaces 
or tombs. The principal ruin is that of an aqueduct, ' 
of which about an hundred arches remain, built of; 
brick, and stretching above half a mile. They vary 
in height, according to the irregularity of the sur- 






KOAD TO ROME. I37 

fece, the highest being probably fifty feet ; and under 
one of these passes the road. The soil is nnuch in- 
jured by the materials of edifices which have now 
disappeared, being overspread with bits of stone, 
bricks, and earthen vessels. Our coachman calls it 
Nero's city ; and says it once contained a million of 
inhabitants ! 

As we approached Castello di Gaeta, we travelled 
over a tract of low country in the neighbourhood of 
the Mediterranean, while many peaks of the Appen- 
nines appeared before us. We were soon involved 
among conical mountains, which presented the most 
dreary landscape : for they were entirely bare of trees, 
and even destitute of shrubs and grass, from near their 
bases to the very summits. The narrow vallies 
through which the road winds, were indeed scattered 
with houses, and covered with fields of young grain 
and clusters of olive-trees ; but the barrenness of the 
mountains so preponderated over the little fertile spots, 
as almost to let them pass unnoticed. Between two 
of these mountains we caught a glimpse of the Medi- 
terranean, and a cape running out from the north six 
or eight miles distant, with a round hill upon it, at the 
foot of which were the compact buildings of a large 
town, surrounded by fortified walls. It was Gaeta. 
the Caieta of Virgil: a city containing twelve or 
fifteen thousand inhabitants, and one of the most 
important fortresses in the kingdom of Naples. The 
point on which it stands shuts in a fine bay, on the 
shore of which we soon after found ourselves, and at 
the entrance of a small town. 

The inn where we have stopped is at the end of the 
town, and situated on a hill which slopes to the water. 
A balcony before the windows of the dining room, 
which is up two pair of stairs, looks down upon a ter- 



J 85 JiOAD TO ROME. 

race, and a garden, which descends to the margin of 
the bay, full of olive and orange trees, the latter 
loaded with fruit : so that it is like a beautiful prospect 
seen through a rose-bush. The island of Ponza, and 
the rest of the cluster among which we lay so long 
becalmed when coming on the coast, are on the hori- 
zon off the mouth of the harbour. On our left, the 
swelling cones of the barren Appennines rise from the 
bay ; and on the right, a long beach sweeps boldly 
round in a semicircle to Gaeta, just opposite, and hve 
or six miles distant. There is something uncommonly 
beautiful in the scene ; and the interest is not a little 
increased by its name. Here iEneas came with his 
fleet after leaving the Baian coast, on his way to the 
Tiber; and it was in an olive wood in its environs, 
that Cicero was murdered, and his tomb erected by his 
freedman. 

Our spacious dining room, notwithstanding its half 
furnished and cheerless appearance, has its walls 
painted in fresco, with nymphs and cupids ; and what 
is more substantially useful, the first fire-place I have 
seen in any Italian house, except for cooking. We 
have come but eighteen miles from St. Agata ; but it 
has been determined to stop here to night, to avoid 
the danger of passing the country between Fondi 
and Terracina in the evening ; for there is no inn at 
Fondi. 

I was somewhat surprised to find the modern 
Italians preserving, so often, the antique forms of 
Roman amphorae in their large earthen vessels ; and on 
entering the kitchen before dinner, was strongly 
reminded of that in Cicero's villa and other dwellings 
at Pompeii, by the fire-place, the hearth of which is 
raised three feet from the floor. Here I found our 
Tuscan orator in an apron, with his sleeves rolled up, 



ROAD TO ROME. Ig9 

preparing some rice for our soup, and singing and 
talking with great vivacity. Half our company w^ere 
collected there to laugh at his jests and at him. 

A small troop of Neapolitan horse were drawn up 
in front of the inn for exercise, and exhibited less 
regard to military decorum than is to be seen among 
a company of the rawest New-England militia. 
They talked with each other, and even jested with 
their commander in a most unbecoming manner. 
The road for a mile beyond is marked on each side 
with ruinous Roman tombs, so that it there follows the 
track of the Appian Way. Here I noticed again the 
ancient reticulated brick-work, and small sepulchral 
chambers, each with a door and three niches, in 
most of which there are still the remains of fresco 
paintings. 

Returning to the inn, we found the Englishwoman 
by the fire, still supporting the fatigue of travelling with 
patience, and regarding the dangers of banditti with 
calmness. She said she had brought along with her a 
little plum-pudding, which she produced, and having 
cut it, offered it to her fellow travellers. The French 
and Italians turned it over and over, and eyed it sus- 
piciously ; but all pronounced it good. She did not 
know whether they had it in America or not ; but it 
was such a custom in England. This was not very 
good, she said, it was made in a plain way. She fed 
her little boy with it. " So you intend to make a John 
Bull of him .f^" " Indeed I do. He shall go there as 
soon as he is old enough, and be put to school, (he 
shall learn English at all events^) then go on board a 
ship, and learn to be a Httle sailor." " You like sailors 
then .f*" " Yes, they are so bold and generous.'^' 
" Yes ; but they are sometimes so vicious." " And 
are not they vicious who live on shore ?" Her tales 



J90 llOAD TO ROME. 

of " Paiarmo^^ came to my mind, and 1 confessed it, 
*' A sailor saved my life," she said, " and I shall always 
like sailors. I was on a passage to the East Indies, 
when only seven years of age, and the ship sprung 
aleak. Part of the crew took the boat, under pretence 
of doing something for our assistance ; but they went 
off towards St. Helena, which was in sight, and we 
saw no more of them. When the ship was about 
sinking, a sailor, whose looks 1 had always disliked, 
placing me on a plank, swam with me to the shore." 

After dinner, at which the Tuscan presided with 
great glee, we formed a party, and went out, in a dark 
and cloudy evening, to a small coffee-house in the 
neighbourhood. It was filled with soldiers, playing 
cards, and listening to one in a scarlet coat playing a 
guitar. The music ceased, and all was silence, as we 
entered and seated ourselves at the upper end of the 
room. The Frenchwoman at our head, with her dog 
and son, moved along with dignity, and gracefully 
bowed on both sides. We had hardly begun to sip 
our coffee, when the musician, bowing to us, touched 
his guitar, rolled up his eyes, and struck into a song 
with a most languishing air. We applauded of course ; 
and all the dogs in the room joined their barking and 
howling. The dogs were hissed and commanded to 
be silent, but for some time in vain. Just as peace was 
restored the door opened without noise, and a tall 
figure dressed like a woman, in black, with a black 
mask, stepped into the room and took its seat. The 
dogs instantly sprung at her with great noise, but were 
again silenced. Several questions were directed to 
her, but she answered only with signs ; and, much to 
my surprise, the soldiers next her instantly began to 
use gestures, without speaking, as familiarly as if they 
had been educated in a school of the dumb. All per- 



ROAD TO ROME. j 9 1 

severed in the strictest silence, and conducted with 
great good manners ; though some of them were suf- 
ferers from the silent but humourous sallies and repar- 
tees of the mysterious stranger. Masking is practised 
during the whole of the carnival, but it becomes uni- 
versal only at the end of it. 

Here we sat listening to the music, and observing the 
amusing behaviour of the black mask ; and were so 
content with the enjoyments of resting travellers, that 
we forgot the fatigues of to-day, and the dangers of to- 
morrow. On leaving the coffee-house, our heteroge- 
neous party bade good night in some half dozen lan- 
guages ; and we were again in a narrow street, where 
it was very dark, frequently stepping into holes half 
filled with water by the rain, which had fallen while 
we were thus enjoying ourselves. " We have been 
happy this evening among an agreeable party :" 
observed one, whose thoughts happened to recur to 
the banditti : " perhaps the incidents of to-morrow 
evening may be very different, as well as our com- 
panions." 

Terracina, — February 5, (evening?) The Italian inns, 
with their large dreary rooms, stone floors, and scarcity 
of furniture, have yet many substantial comforts. They 
have always given us a warm welcome, when we have 
come to take up our lodgings, though we are quite unno- 
ticed at noon, when we stop only to refresh the horses. 
The table has been neatly though plainly set, with a 
clean cloth and clean napkins; the servants are suf- 
ficiently attentive, and the food good and well cooked. 
But still higher praise is due to the beds. The bed- 
steads are of iron, and have boards in the place of 
sacking ; but they are made very soft, with a sack of 
straw and a fine feather bed, and we have been 
thus far supplied with clean and fresh linen. 



J 92 ROAD TO ROME. 

Our coachman declared this morning that there was 
no danger, for that he had travelled this road thirty 
years without seeing a single robber. The driver of 
one of the other coaches however, was taken by ban- 
ditti only a week ago and carried into the mountains : 
but he answers all our questions very generally, and 
evidently is, though I know not why, very averse to 
speaking on the subject. He pointed out, at our re- 
quest, the ruin called Cicero's Tomb. It is a mass of 
masonry about fifty feet high, shaped like a dilapidated 
square tower, and half covered with shrubs and vines. 
Every body hereabouts who is in the habit of meeting 
with travellers, has the names of the principal objects of 
curiosity always on his tongue. When I inquired how- 
ever of the coachman, what were the other ruins along 
the road, he said he believed they were all Cicero's. 

Fondi is the last town in the Neapolitan territory, 
and we felt, on approaching it, that it would have 
graced the borders of a desert. For several miles, 
the road had grown so hilly that the horses travelled 
very slowly, and Mr. P. (my English friend,) and my- 
self had descended and proceeded op foot. We 
wound among high hills of limestone scattered with 
olives, under which the ground was green with young 
wheat;, apparently uninjured by the shade. Rougher 
and rougher the surface grew, till the road, winding 
painfully along the sides of rocky hills, became dar- 
kened by their shadows, and looked down on deep 
valleys worn into ravines, by the washing of torrents, 
which at some seasons of the year pour down from the 
mountains. iVttempts at cultivating the little spots 
of soil situated on peaks out of the reach of the 
water, helped to give an idea of the labour by which 
the poor inhabitants must purchase their food. The 
stone walls were half broken down, and the rocks on 



KG AD TO ROME. 293 

each side of us, encroached more and more upon the 
olive grounds at every turn. The ruins of small 
Roman tombs were blackened within by smoke, as if 
they had often afforded shelter to houseless heads ; 
and the i'ew huts we observed here and there, among 
the great grey rocks, seemed the cheerless homes of a 
wretched people, spirit-broken by the parsimonious 
soil. 

We met a few men, whose appearance was strongly 
marked with poverty. According to custom, they 
saluted us with " Buon giorno Signore ;" but Mr. 
P. declared they answered the description given of 
them by the Tuscan, and he thought them as despe- 
rate looking fellows as any Greeks he ever saw among 
the islands. When we reached Fondi, and had passed 
through the gate, which as usual was guarded by old 
and weather-beaten stone towers, a narrow street 
appeared before us, in all the dreary poverty of the 
worst Italian towns. Small houses stood on each side, 
wdthout windows, whose doors when shut made them 
seem uninhabited, and when open, showed little more 
than the poverty of the owners, who, since the days of 
Horace, have not even a " Latus Clavus" to be proud of. 

Here we had to stop at the custom-house, for Fondi 
is the last town in the Neapolitan territory. Beggars 
crowded round us, bringing their rags, and proclaiming 
aloud their various sorts of misery, as if each one had 
suffered beyond the endurance of humanity. If they 
had been besieged until, like the inhabitants of Jeru- 
salem, they had devoured one another, and we had 
just arrived with supplies ; or if they had been ship- 
wrecked, and were now almost dead with hunger on a 
desert coast, and we had come with provisions ; they 
could hardly have appeared more eager and perse- 
vering in the cries of " Give me a little naoney — I am 

25 



194 l^OAD TO ROME. 

half starved — -My children are dead with hunger— I 
will pray for a safe journey for you — May the samts 
protect you from the robbers — O sir, give me a single 
grain for my mother — You have money and we are 
sick and poor." If we sat in the coach, a dozen 
voices were heard repeating over such words as these, 
and so loud, that we could scarcely think; while if we 
descended, it was muddy and rainy. One of the most 
disgusting of these objects was a poor boy, who had 
the misfortune to have no teeth; and he persecuted us 
a long time, by opening his mouth to excite our pity, 
and begging for bread, until the Frenchwoman asked 
him, very abruptly, " how he could eat it without 
teeth." 

The officers of the custom-house threw in our way 
every possible impediment, so that they detained us 
two hours, by examining our baggage, as if they had 
been desirous we should arrive late at the place of 
danger. 

Beyond, the road lay among rough mountains, unin- 
habited and uncultivated. Little centry-boxes grew 
more frequent ; and in some places were seen marks 
of former terraces and breast-works, on which camion 
had once been planted. The road was still very fine, 
and followed the course of a torrent, though so high 
above as to be out of its reach at all seasons of the 
year. Many advantageous positions for artillery might 
be pointed out, even by one the most ignorant of mili- 
tary affairs; and it was surprising that no attention 
was yet paid to them, as this is one of the great passes 
by which alone the country is accessible to an army, 
and the Austrians are now said to have nearly reached 
Rome, in one place there were two men occupied- 
with their shovels, about a long-neglected battery of 
two pieces of artillery, which, from that situation. 



ROA]^ TO ROME. X95 

might sweep the road, that declined before them for 
the distance of a mile — a mere burlesque on the sub- 
ject. But perhaps it was intended, when the danger 
approached nearer, to throw more important obstacles 
in the way of their enemies. The road had been built 
up in many places over ravines, and might in a few 
hours be destroyed : cannon might be mounted here 
and there on commanding points, to annoy the enemy 
while they should be occupied in repairing it, and 
then, retiring a little and repeating the same opera- 
rations, an army might be ruined before the mountains 
were passed. Here is one of the defiles where the 
Neapolitans must win or lose their liberty : and in a 
few days, the dry channels of the torrent will doubt- 
less be flowing with the best blood in the kingdom. 

A tract of plain country succeeded, and we soon 
reached the Roman frontier, which is marked by a 
gate over the road, adjoining the barracks and stables 
of a small body of dragoons. Here we stopped some 
time, while it was agitated whether we should take an 
escort. The Roman and the Tuscan seemed much 
alarmed : the one for his English wife, the other for 
himself; and in concert with several others, used all 
their eloquence to persuade the majority to hire an 
escort. The story was that a soldier had been shot 
by the robbers last night, and that the neighbourhood 
was in a state of trepidation. Several dragoons, in 
brass helmets and green coats, the military colour of 
the Romans, seemed very ready to accompany us. 
Their horses stood harnessed, and they walked about 
dragging their sabres over the stones, and telling us the 
road was infested. S6me of the travellers urged, that 
four or five dragoons would be enough to keep the 
bandits from attacking us ; others said, that as we had 
no arms we could do nothing, and that so small an 



196 ROAD TO ROME. 

escort would be insufficient to intimidate a band of 
forty-four desperate robbers, and would only induce 
them to fire upon us. 

To my surprise, the little Englishwoman was among 
the few who appeared perfectly calm. She declared 
that she believed the soldiers had invented the stories 
they told us, and said she would sooner trust herself 
with the robbers than with them. The French- 
woman evidently set very lightly by the danger, and 
impatiently desired we might be no longer detained : 
indeed the appearance which the scenery had assumed 
was well calculated to make one estimate the danger 
rather less. It was about an hour before sun-set ; the 
clouds were fast dispersing, the wind had fallen, and 
the sun was shining obliquely upon an extensive and 
beautiful landscape. On the right, a rough mountain 
slanted from a great height to the very edge of the road ; 
and on the left, stretched out an extensive tract of flat 
ground, divided into little capes and islands by large 
sheets of still, smooth water, which reflected every 
shrub and flower that grew on the margin. A lonely 
Gothic tower stood on a distant point, to stamp the 
landscape European; the grass had received a fresher 
hue from the rain, and large flocks of ducks were 
swimming and diving near the shores. There was 
nothing here like the narrow defiles or dark forests, in 
which the imagination places banditti. The road 
continued broad and smooth, and had no trees, walls 
nor hedges, to separate it from the low plain on one 
side, and the bare rocky declivity on the other. 

The Frenchwoman, as if to show her hght esteem 
for her valiant fellow-travellers, set out and walked 
a mile or more into the robbers' country, attended 
only by her dog. When the carriages were ready to 
proceed however, we were detained more than half 



ROAD TO ROME. 197 

an hour by an unfortunate circumstance. The Ger- 
man traveller, who had already mounted his seat, on 
being solicited by a soldier for a paolo^ [a Roman sil- 
ver coin of ten baiocchi, or cents,] struck him in the 
face with the passport, which he had received from his 
hands. This so exasperated the soldier that he 
returned the blow ; and a scuffle ensued, in which 
the German was dragged down, taken into the guard- 
house, and threatened with irons. The coachman 
was arrested ; and it was not until some time had heen 
spent in arguing the cause with the officer of the sta- 
tion, that we were able to proceed. When it was 
proved satisfactorily that the German was in fault, he 
was kept under guard; and we took up our line of 
inarch, escorted by four dragoons, two preceding and 
two following us. Their steeds were clean-limbed, 
and stepped along the fine hard road with much 
spirit, forming a striking contrast with our deliberate 
mules and horses. The riders were good looking 
men, well armed with pistols, sabres and carabines ; 
and had so martial an expression, with their faces half 
covered with mustachios, and the visors and straps 
of their brass helmets, that we could not but think 
a larger number of them might have proved a protec- 
tion from the robbers in case of necessity. 

Our vetturino, turning round in his saddle, at length 
ventured to speak what he had long been thinking 
of. " That German,'' said he, in a low voice, " was 
mad to insult one of the soldiers in that manner, while 
he was in their power. He will be very fortunate if he 
ever sees Germany again. If he does, I would advise 
his friends to keep him at home — such a little fool is 
not fit to travel, histead of coming to Italy to see our 
delightful country and our antiquities, as others do, he 
does nothing but get himself and more honest men into 



398 ROAD TO ROME. 

difficulty." We inquired if he thought the escort we 
had taken would be of any use to us. " I don't know," 
said he, " I have travelled this road thirty years with- 
out seeing a robber, and yet I find there is much alarm 
among the people on account of their late outrages. 
It was very imprudent for that Frenchwoman to go on 
before us alone : though the soldiers are rascals and 
robbers themselves — ^I know them — they are the last 
people in the world [ would trust myself with. They 
hate Germans, and they will do that foolish young 
man as much harm as they can. To gratify their 
revenge I dare say they may tempt him to escape, and 
then shoot him on the road." 

Sentry boxes are placed along the road every 
quarter or half mile ; and the dragoons were very 
careful to point out that near which the soldier had 
been shot the night before. There was the mark of a 
musket-ball on the plaster with which it was covered ; 
but we had only their assertion for believing that 
the ball had first passed through the body of the 
sentinel. 

We were now at the base of a mountain, the sides 
of which rose to a considerable height on our right, 
entirely divested of trees and covered with loose 
grey rocks, which in some places had been blasted out 
with gunpowder to make a passage, and were tottering 
over the road. On the left the Mediterranean stretch- 
ed out to the horizon ; and the waves were roll- 
ing up and breaking so near us, as sometimes to make 
our horses start and almost to wet us with spray. This 
was the place of danger ; and though few of my compa- 
nions seemed to be afraid, all of them had some 
anxiety in their countenances, when they found them- 
selves on the spot which had been, for many years, in 
the undisputed possession of a band of robbers, 



ROAD TO ROME. jgg 

and where they had committed so many acts of 
violence and barbarity. The dragoons pointed to- 
wards the summit of the momitain, to remind us of 
the people by whom it was inhabited, and spurred on 
as if they were really apprehensive of danger. Con- 
versation was suddenly at an end, as our horses and 
mules got into a round trot, almost for the first time 
since we had left Naples, and we rode on in silence 
for two or three miles, looking at every large rock as 
we passed it, to see if there w ere not some moving 
thing behind. We met a small party of men loitering 
by the road side, dressed in old cloaks made of red- 
dish cloth, with one end thrown over the shoulder. 
They greeted us as we passed, and we hastened on 
towards Terracina without seeing a single habitation, 
or meeting another living being. 

At length a turn in the road, which wound round a little 
point in the mountain, still on the sea-shore, brought 
us in sight of a strong gate, under which we were to 
pass. It leaned against a rock, which had here been 
cut down forty feet, and was supported on the other 
side by a tower rising from the water. We were now 
in safety, and congratulated ourselves on our good 
fortune, as w^e passed through the gate and came in 
sight of Terracina. There are several very singulai* 
rocks near the city gate. One of them is more than 
a hundred feet high, shaped like a very sharp pyramid, 
and marked all over with strata of different shades. 
It occupies but a small space on the ground, and ter- 
minates in an acute point. One side is nearly or 
quite perpendicular, and serves as a post to the gate 
of the city : for the hooks are driven into the stone, and 
the gate hangs upon it. Does not Horace refer to these 
rocks, when he says, " Saxis late candentibus Anxur ?'' 

We were told on entering Terracina, that the inha- 



200 ROAD TO ROME. 

bitants had been in a state of alarm half the day, be- 
cause news had been brought by a peasant, that the 
robbers meditated a sudden attack upon it before sun- 
set. The story of their shooting a soldier was confirm- 
ed, and their apprehensions seemed to be much ex- 
cited. 

The inn where we have stopped Is very large, and 
the hospitably of its inmates was redoubled in our view, 
by the joy we experienced on finding ourselves deli- 
vered from the danger of banditti We were soon seat- 
ed at a table in a recess of the enormous dining room, 
and were happy and social in a degree that would have 
honoured the most luxurious repast. The Tuscan re- 
doubled his witticisms, and as usual laid a heavy tax 
on our risibles; for the native incurable length of his 
visage continually brought to mind the Knight of the 
rueful countenance, and drew from my laughing neigh- 
bours many a sarcastic remark. — One compared it to a 
face in a spoon, and another to " a sum in long division." 
We were all pitying and blaming the poor German; 
for he had caused us some unnecessary inconvenience, 
as well as exposed himself to danger, when he unex- 
pectedly entered the room, and, after a hurried greet- 
ing, took his seat among us. He had come from the 
frontier to this place on foot, guarded by three dis- 
mounted dragoons with loaded carabines; and after"' 
an examination before the commandant of the town, 
had been dismissed. He evidently was desirous of 
keeping up his consequence in our eyes : but the agita- 
tion which made his voice tremble and his hands shake,- 
showed that his courage had long since deserted him. 
Hfe told us in French, that he had been conducted by 
the soldiers to a tribunal, where an examination wa& 
held ; and, on promise of being set at liberty, had sub- 
scribed a paper he did not take the trouble to read. 



KOAD TO ROME. 20 1 

and had begged pardon on his knees, as it was a mere 
form. He made bitter complaints of having been de- 
serted by his companions, while the soldiers were 
abusing him, and took such high ground, notwithstand- 
ing the humiliation he had lately suffered, as to provoke 
sharp rebukes from several of his neighbours. In speak- 
ing of America, which he took occasion to praise in ex- 
travagant terms, he inquired how much such a bottle oi 
wine as that he held would cost in my country. 1 told 
him we had none such, and that all our wines were ex- 
tremely dear. "But how is that?" he inquired, "you 
might buy German or Italian wines at a low rate, and 
import them." "Consider," said Mr. P., speaking also 
in French, " Attendez, il faut payer la douane ; com- 
prenez vous?" [Consider — all necessary expenses must 
be paid at the frontiers— do you understand ?] This 
cutting jest had a surprising effect — our companions 
bit their lips, and laughed heartily with their eyes, and 
the poor German hung his head, and at an early op- 
portunity effected his retreat. 

Velletri, — Feb. 6, in the evening, — We entered upon a 
large plain very early this morning, the first part of 
which was well cultivated, and had some cottages upon 
it. As we proceeded, however, we found ourselves 
among vast, neglected fields ; wet low grounds, over- 
grown with thick bushes like willows, and standing 
ponds, full to the brim. Herds of large grey cattle 
and half-wild horses were ranging about, and feeding 
without a keeper ; and a few ducks and other fowl were 
occasionally seen in the air and on the water. The 
mountains had retired to a great distance on the right, 
and not a habitation was to be seen on the whole plain 
beyond us. The rising sun, which had not yet reach- 
ed us, shone on villages perched on the lower peaks of 
the mountains; and the road, which still continued 

26 



202 ROAD TO ROME. 

broad and flat, stretched out straight before us for many 
miles. It is lined with rows of trees, and by canals 
filled with water from neighbouring ponds. This tract 
of country which we were entering, is the Pomptine 
marshes, on which the ancient Romans bestowed in 
vain so much expense, to render them fit for cultivation. 
The remains of vast dykes are still seen in many places, 
which serve to prove the ill success of their great plans. 
Some of the popes have exerted themselves on the same 
grounds; yet, although they have drained large tracts 
which are now ploughed, sown, and reaped, nobody 
ventures to build his house far from the borders of the 
marshes, and wild horses and cattle are still their sole 
occupants, as in the warm seasons of the year, a malig- 
nant fever, called malaria^ seizes upon all who are ex- 
posed to the unhealthy exhalations of these moist, low 
grounds. 

Mr. P. and myself were so situated as to feel pecu- 
liarly the desolation of the land. We had paid so ex- 
orbitantly for a cup of coffee at Terracina, that we had 
resolved to supply ourselves with bread, and replenish 
our wine-bottle, (unfortunately again dry,) at some 
village on the road, as we had usually done before. As 
the horses always walked, we could descend at any 
time from the carriage, and without much exertion soon 
leave it behind. On leaving Terracina, however, we 
found ourselves on the marshes, and were forced to be 
content without either food or drink till noon, when we ' 
reached the post house, in the middle of the marsh. 
Here we got some coarse provisions, and light, sour \ 
wine, paying in proportion to the dearth of the land ; j 
and made a meal in an upper, large, unftjrnished room, \ 
in a large, unfurnished house, sitting two in a chair, at j 
something like a carpenter's bench. In order thatj' 
travellers may be furnished with a shelter, fire, bedff. 



JIOAD TO ROME. 203 

and food, the government have built and provided for 
the support of such houses as this. The buildings are 
very large, and though almost unfurnished, and but 
half tenanted, might protect a great many travellers 
from the unwholesome air of the surrounding country. 
Large stables are ready for their horses, and a small 
church is among the buildings, though apparently less 
used than any of the rest. A poor family have been 
tempted by the prospect of a decent livelihood, which 
is as attractive in this country as a fortune in ours, to 
expose themselves to a dreadful disease, and short, 
miserable lives. Those who now survive, are pale and 
feeble ; and we sometimes met them, when we had 
missed our way among the various passages of the 
post-house, wandering about with dispirited looks, 
among long galleries, and empty, dismal chambers. 
Large half-wild cats were strolling around without 
object, and on meeting us fled precipitately up and 
down, as if a man were an unusual sight. 

Our facetious Tuscan had in the mean time recov- 
ered his wonted spirits, and drawn ofFmost of our com- 
panions to a lower kitchen, where they suffered them- 
selves to be made merry over some thin, hot soup, 
cheese made of sheep's milk, and miserable sour wine. 
Mr. P. and myself, as I said before, were enjoying a 
luncheon in an upper room with three others, after we 
had with some difficulty found seats enough for us all. 
A pale, melancholy woman, with good features, and 
deep black eyes, acted as the wretched mistress of 
this house of desolation. She seemed brooding over 
past scenes of trouble; and her face expressed less 
hope than fortitude and resignation. Some questions 
we asked roused her from a partial lethargy, and she 
gave us a history of herself in few, but impressive 
words. 



204 ROAD TO ROME. 

" I was born among the mountains," she said, " out 
of sight of the marshes, in a pleasant and healthful 
country. In an evil hour we were induced to come to 
this dreary place, as misfortunes had reduced my hus- 
band to poverty. The first warm season our whole 
household, except two, were severely attacked by the 
malaria, which has returned upon us fourteen succes- 
sive years, till the greater part of those who once form- 
ed my family are dead, and all of us who survive have 
been repeatedly reduced to the borders of the grave, 
by a malignant fever which has never left enough of 
the house in health, to take care of the sick." 

While she spoke thus, my companions regarded her 
with more and more attention, till their countenances 
expressed as much melancholy as her own ; and as the 
narration proceeded, one of the large cats occasionally 
startled us, by making its appearance suddenly at the 
door, or glaring from a hole in the chimney. " Figlio 
mio," continued the poor woman in answer to me who 
had last spoken ; " My son, the malaria has robbed me 
of four little children, all I ever had ; and 1 have thought 
every year since that it would take my life also. At best, 
I cannot endure its repeated attacks much longer. I 
am rarely free from the fever four months in the year, 
and nearly the whole household are in the same condi- 
tion. A dropsy, the natural effect of its repeated at- 
tacks, has now advanced to an alarming height, so that 
death will soon succeed my accumulated sufferings. 
My son, we are absolutely sacrificed to the deadly at- 
mosphere of these morasses." 

1 set out on foot with my friend, before the carriage 
was ready ; and the loud laugh of the Tuscan and bis 
merry gang, made a shocking discord with the voice 
of misery which was still in my ears. As we walked 
on, the fine straight road, bordered with trees and a 



i. 



ROAD TO ROME. 205 

canal on each side, had something very dispiriting in 
its appearance, and the landscape appeared more dis- 
mal than ever, since we had heard so striking an ac- 
count of the cause of its desertion. The same deadly 
disease has for centuries, triumphed over the exer- 
tions of men to change the face of the Pomptine 
marshes ; and has wasted the strength of every arm 
that has been stretched to rescue them from deso- 
lation. 

As there was nothing in the scenery to attract our 
attention, our cofiversation wandered to a variety of 
subjects. We talked of music, and my friend proved 
to be an amateur. He spoke enthusiastically of many 
Italian composers ; but declared that Rossini, lately 
so much in vogue, has introduced an unnatural style, 
and that all Italy has gone mad with him. " That 
soldier, the other evening at Gaeta," said he, " played 
several of his airs, and with a silly languishing look 
and posture too well suited to them. I don't believe 
there is any country in the world, but the kingdom of 
Naples, where a tall, whiskered soldier, expecting 
daily to be called into the field to defend his liberties, 
would sit and roll up his eyes over the guitar, and 
melt down every manly note in his voice to such sick- 
ening sweetness." He then spoke of his own country; 
and 1 found him as enthusiastic in his praises of the 
English ladies, who, he declared, certainly make the 
best wives in the world — except the Americans. 

Our road continued to ascend ; and we were among 
gentle hills, cultivated only in patches, with here 
and there a cluster of trees or shrubs. The sun was 
going down, and night fast coming on, as we approached 
the city of Velletri. A post chaise, and a coach and 
four, drove by us at a round trot, guarded by four dra- 
goons who had accompanied them all the way from 



206 ^^^^ TO ROME. 

the frontier, and entered the city. Our carriages at 
length came up, and we soon found ourselves in the 
dining-room of an inn, where a party of English ladies 
and gentlemen were seated about the fire, being the 
travellers who had just passed us, and reached the 
inn in season to engage the best chambers and provi- 
sions. They were all talking and laughing very gaily, 
and my friend could hardly restrain his impatience to 
introduce himself as a countryman. Five years' ab- 
sence from England among the Turks have prepared 
him to relish home in a high degree; and he never 
meets a countryman, nor hears his native language, 
without being reminded of another and another source 
of pleasure that awaits him in his own country, among 
his own kin, and in his own house. He contented 
himself, however, with standing in the back ground, 
and declaring again and again, that the English ladies 
were the most modest and the most amiable in the 
world- — except the Americans. He was restrained 
by a respect to their higher rank ! which, I reflected 
with pleasure, is a much smaller obstacle in our coun- 
try When our fellow-travellers from the other vet- 
turas came in, the ladies who were by the fire, recog- 
nised the features of their own country under the 
plain hat of our little Englishwoman ; and welcoming 
her with great condescension, made her sit with them, 
admired her little boy, heard a summary of her trou- 
bles, gave a cup of tea to her, and to her child bits of 
plum cake out of their bags, talked kindly to her, and 
affectionately to each other about her, till I thought I 
had never heard sweeter voices. 

We were now informed, that the inn was too small 
for the comfortable entertainment of so many; and 
our dinner soon satisfied us of the justice of the remark. 
Here was room for discontent ; but, instead of com- 



ROAD TO ROME. 207 

plaining, we were all very soon in high spirits. The 
Tuscan took the lead, with many humorous sallies. 
He is considered, by a portion of our party, as an un- 
doubted wit; and even the most disgusted, sometimes 
condescend to smile at his jests. When dinner was 
over he set himself to enumerate, in his rough dialect, 
the dishes with which we had been regaled. The 
snipe he called tordinini, a double diminutive from 
tordi, their name in Italian ; and the soup, which was 
remarkably thin, he denominated pane sudato, [sweated 
bread.] 

The country in the neighbourhood of Velletri is very 
hilly, so that we set out on foot. On reaching the top 
of a hill, the wind blew over us so cold, (for it vi^as 
scarce sunrise,) that my friend and I sat down under 
the shelter of a hedge. Two boys, who were kindling 
a fire in the field, invited us to come and warm our- 
selves, which we willingly did. A stone being placed 
on the ground, and a quantity of the stalks of Indian 
corn, piled upon it, a comfortable fire was soon made, 
and we began to taste the bread, figs and wine we 
had brought along with us. The boys were dressed 
in blue linen jackets and breeches, with long crooked 
knives hanging at their girdles, with which they trim- 
med the vines. On a high hill opposite was a small 
ancient town, half hidden by green olive trees, while 
lower down the soil was devoted to the raising of 
vines, which were supported by reeds. The young 
vine-dressers, having made a cheerful fire, opened a 
sack they had brought with them, and produced first 
a wooden bottle, like a canteen, full of red wine ; a 
small cheese, made of sheep's milk, shaped like a 
crooked squash ; and then some cakes of a bright yel- 
low colour, which they called farinella. These they 
split, and toasted on the end of a stick, and gave us a 
portion, which proved to be, in all respects, the identi- 



208 ROAD TO ROME. 

cslI jonny-cake of New England, or the corn-bread of the 
southern states. 

A mile or two beyond we had several steep hills 
to descend, where it was necessarj for a wheel of 
the vettura to be chained, notwithstanding the 
labour which had been bestowed upon the road, at 
some very distant period, in several places it was 
cut down in a straight line, to the depth of twenty 
feet, for a considerable distance, exposing a surface 
which had the appearance of volcanic rock. Some- 
times we were shaded by dark, overhanging woods, 
and here and there the soil bore marks of old culti- 
vated fields, and fortified positions, deserted, perhaps^ 
in the dark ages. 

At the corners of the streets, in a town we passed 
through, printed papers were stuck up bearing these 
words upon them, "Iddio ci vede — Eternita," [God 
sees you — Eternity ;] as if to remind us that we were 
within the precints of a spiritual dominion. 

By a steep descent we reached a narrow and deep 
valley, towards which the old walls of the town pre- 
sented a high and inaccessible precipice of masonry, 
and had the air of a fortress once of considerable 
importance. In the valley is a wall of a most singular 
description. It is about fifty or sixty feet high, eight 
or nine feet thick, and ten rods long ; and is cut out 
of the solid rock, with no vestige of rubbish on the 
ground, which is a beautiful grass-plot reaching to the 
very base of the wall. 

The ground continued very hilly several miles far- 
ther; and the winding of the road brought us by turns 
under the shade of dark trees, before the mouths of 
grottos dug into the rocks, and across little brooks 
running through narrow vallies, from which every dis- 
tant object was hidden by the surrounding hills. At 
length we came in sight of a ruinous mass in the mid- 



ROAD TO ROME. 209 

die of the road, about thirty feet high, once surround- 
ed by five small towers, two of which are still in 
good preservation. This is the tomb of the Horatii 
and Curiatii; I asked some questions about it of a 
young peasant who met me, but he seemed to have 
no knowledge whatever of its history. « 

Just beyond, we entered the town of Albano, which 
stands upon the top of a long gentle hill. The broad 
street descending toward the north, was bounded by 
high garden walls, beyond which were many tall ruins of 
different forms, surrounded by trees, and half covered 
with green shrubs and vines. Before us was seen a 
vast plain, bounded on the right by ridges of the Ap^ 
pennines; and in front, at the distance of thirty miles, 
part of the same chain was seen, but it was of so light 
a blue, that it could hardly be distinguished from the 
sky. Such a sight was very agreeable, after having 
travelled so long among the hills, where we had seen 
no habitations, except those in dark, ancient towns j 
and few signs of cultivation beside the groves of olives, 
which half covered the hills. On the plain below us 
we hoped to see something of the deep, fertile soil, 
the vineyards and the gardens of that delightful coun- 
try in the vicinity of Naples : but f started, when, on 
running over large tracts vvith my eyes, I could dis-^ 
cover no signs of cultivation, nor of inhabitants. 1 
looked more narrowly; but the same undulating sur- 
face stretched off to a great distance, and neither 
town nor cottage could be found — not an enclosure, 
not a tree, not a single moving thing. On the left, 
the plain seemed to be boundless, extending so far 
toward the west, that it lost every irregularity of sur- 
face, assumed the appearance of water, and reached 
to the horizon, so that I mistook it for the sea. A soli- 
dary square tower, dilapidated and deserted, stood 

27 



210 I^GAD TO ROME. 

here and there; and a double row of old tombs 
stretched out before us, in a straight line, to the mid- 
dle of the plain, fourteen or fifteen miles. This was 
the Appian Way — and looking critically beyond the 
last -of the tombs, we saw against the light, distant 
momntains, the dome of St. Peter's, and the towers 
and cupolas of Rome. The sight was new and unex- 
pected to my friend as well as to myself What his 
thoughts were I do not know ; he instantly ceased 
talking, and looked steadfastly before him a long time 
in perfect silence. 

How unlike is such a scene as this, to the first view 
of one of our American cities ; and how different the 
train of thoughts it introduces to the mind ! Instead 
of the cheerful and exhilarating sight of a savage wil- 
derness retreating before the progress of a free and 
enlightened society, and a new continent assuming the 
aspect of fertility and beauty, under the influence of 
an enterprising population, and a generous form of. 
government ; taking a noble stand before the world, 
and showing an example which many a nation might 
think itself blest to follow, even at an humble dis- 
tance : here we have the poor remains of that mighty 
city — the cradle and the grave of an empire so long 
triumphant on earth — now dwindling away before the 
wide-spread desolation which surrounds it, and shrink- 
ing back upon itself, as if for dread of an invisible 
destroyer. Accustomed to the fertility and beauty of ■ 
our own luxuriant meadows, and the thick foliage 
which covers our mountains, the campagna seemed . 
to my eyes as dreary as if but lately wasted by the bar- 
barians ; but the farther we proceeded, the better did 
we realize the melancholy truth, that the soil has long 
lost its vital principle, and, alas ! that it is most defi- 
cient of all in things of human mould. 



ROAD TO ROME. 211 

*————" Age, thou art chang'd ! 
Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods — 
When passM there by an age, since the great floods 
But it Was famed of more than of one man ?" 

It is a terrible thing to be. like ancient Rome, expo- 
sed to the full force of malediction — to the fatal blasting 
of those ancient prophecies, which we read on the page 
of the sacred Scriptures, and tremble at their import, 
though so far removed from the objects at which thej 
were directed. This is the first of those solemn scenes 
my eyes have ever explored. — Ah! how has Rome, 
imperial Rome, withered under the irresistible bolts of 
heaven, and how deeply is she seared and scarred with 
the long delayed but inevitable blows! 

It is a melancholy ride to the city. The Appian Way 
is no longer travelled ; and the road, which turns off 
to the right, passes through a dreary desert, without 
any other signs of men than a kw old towers, and the 

still more ancient remains of Roman architecture. In 

« 

many places the surface was scattered with broken 
bricks and marbles; and the road was cut through 
strata formed of the ruins of dilapidated buildings. 
Long lines of aqueducts began to appear, extending 
from various points among the mountains towards the 
centre of the plain, and terminating at Rome. In many 
places they have fallen down, and a noble line of 
arches, sometimes reaching several miles from the 
mountains almost to the spot you stand upon, terminates 
as suddenly as if it had been swallowed up by an earth- 
quake, and leaves an overhanging mass of bricks and 
clusters of ivy, Miy or sixty feet from the ground. The 
next stretches into the city, with its smooth, well 
turned arches supporting the old water channel in 
a just and unvarying descent, and striding by, likf» 
a giant, over their regular surface. 



212 BO AD TO ROME. 

We Stopped at the gate of St. John, which is modem, 
though the wall is ancient ; and when oUr passports 
had been examined, were presented with printed orders, 
requiring us to appear at the police-office within fortj- 
eight hours, on pain of being considered as spies. The 
magnificence of the city began immediately to open 
upon us ; for we had hardly passed the gate when we 
found ourselves in front of the church of St. John in the 
Lateran, second only to St. Peter's, with an Egyptian 
obelisk standing near it, almost an hundred feet high, 
made of a single block of granite, and brought from 
the ruins of Thebes. Having gone through a few 
streets, we passed the Colosseum, almost stupified with 
its overwhelming size ; and soon after, entering the 
midst of the city, reached the Corso. This is a fine 
street, lined with palaces and other large buildings^ 
where, instead of the thick crowds and busy bustle of 
Naples, we met only a few of the inhabitants, and a 
large p|-oportion of them had the deliberate gait, and 
the reflecting countenances of antiquaries, artists, and 
amateurs. 

We were obliged to repair first to the custom-house^ 
the front of which is partly supported by eleven ancient 
fluted Corinthian columns, thirty-six feet high, with an 
architrave much worn by the elements : the remains 
of the temple of M. A. Antoninus. Here our baggage 
was examined, with more or less scrutiny according 
to the fees which the officers received ; and, having bid 
adieu to the English woman, her husband, and little 
boy, and to all our other fellow-travellers, even without 
excepting the Tuscan and the German, Mr. P. and 
myself were soon congratulating each other on the 
termination of ouf journey in very comfortable lodgings 
at the Swiss hotel. 



ROME, 213 

Rome, — February 8. I can hardly tell what were my 
feelings this morning, when I awoke from a placid but 
bewildering dream, to the sensation of a frame exhila- 
rated by repose, after a recent, fatiguing journey, and 
to the consciousness of having at length, beyond all 
contradiction, arrived in Rome. The only light which 
then entered my chamber, was admitted transversely 
through a glass door at the opposite end, opening upon 
a little balcony, which overhung a retired court-yard, 
known only to a few flowering shrubs, and a little 
bird or two, their favourites, unless indeed the ghosts 
of the departed do sometimes return at night to Rome. 
There was a brightness and purity in the light, which 
proved that it had been shed from a clear and serene 
morning sky : and while it showed our travelling bag- 
gage as it had been hastily thrown in a heap upon 
the floor, as if to recal the fatigues and trials of our 
journey, it spread its mild beams over the foreign, and 
somewhat antiquated decorations of the apartment, re- 
ducing every thing to a tone of quiet harmony, corres- 
ponding with the tranquillity which reigned without, and 
seemed to pervade the whole city. 

When breakfast was announced, we found thirty or 
forty persons '^«sembling at table, who were foreigners, 
from various countries of Europe, as was easily inferred 
from their difference of dress and language. The 
principal part were Englishmen, of all grades and pre- 
tensions : some with the careless, leisurelyair of bache- 
lors half-naturalized in Italy, and others with the dusty 
coats and hurried motions of unsettled travellers. 
Frantz's house, although denominated the " Swiss ho- 
tel," is the principal resort for strangers of all nations ; 
and the prices, as well as the accommodations, are 
graduated according to the scale of more northerly 
latitudes. 



214 ROME. 

On inquiry we found a note from my countrymeii^ 
which served as a clue to the retired and pleasant 
apartments of which they had already taken possession. 
Very fortunately for me, they had made reference to my 
arrival, although the unexpected delays of our journey 
had given rise to some anxious reflections, concerning 
the mountains and banditti of Terracina. A glance 
convinced me that some one had directed the arrange- 
ments who had much more rational ideas concerning 
the comforts of life than most Italian house-keepers I 
had yet met with ; and while I observed that in warm 
weather we might have access to a balcony as secluded 
as that at the Swiss hotel, it did not escape me that our 
parlour was spread with a coarse carpet, and furnished 
with a fire-place, with a generous supply of dry wood, 
and a bundle of reeds twisted with withered vines, to 
light them at a moment's warning. Indeed, so much 
does our fire-side resemble those distant ones, with 
which our hearts are still familiar, that we often fancy 
a party of our friends somewhere near at hand, and start 
to find ourselves in Rome. One of my companions, 
who may emphatically be styled the traveller^ seems 
to enter fully into the comforts of our temporary home, 
by comparing it with the inconveniences and trials he 
has met among various nations in both hemispheres ; 
while the other will allow nothing more, than that he 
should be content if he could but once look in the face 
of his far-distant wife, and take for a moment his two 
little ones upon his knees. Every man feels a cord 
attaching him to his country, but, as our nautical friend 
H would have said, his is three-stranded. 

We have made a pilgrimage to St. Peter's, but my 
prominent feeling is that my ideas want organizing, and 
I have not the courage to write a word on that, or any 
other subject. Indeed, I am so convinced of the inade- 



ROMs:. 215 

quacy of my language, that I have over and over de- 
termined to do nothing more than what my occasional 
plan requires : to enter the date in my journal every 
evening, and if possible, the names of the places I have 
visited. I hope a little habit may wear off the first im- 
pressions of Rome, which are great and highly inte- 
resting, yet varying, unsettled, and on the whole very 
unsatisfactory. 

Rome, — February 8. The weather was again fine, 
and the mild beauty of the morning seemed to chide 
delay ; so I set out at an early hour, in company with 
my English friend, to commence the tour of the city. 
Having furnished ourselves with a map of Rome, and a 
volume of a " Travellers' Guide," containing a copious 
description of the most ancient scites, we directed our 
course towards the Palatine hill. On the way, our 
s^ttention was often attracted by various objects of taste, 
both ancient and modern, some of which we immedi- 
ately recognised without referring to our book : but of 
these it will be more proper to speak on another occa- 
sion. We were anxious, in our study of Rome, to fol- 
low the order of time ; and hastened toward the Pala- 
tine, not content until we should stand on the very spot 
where Romulus began to lay the foundation of this once 
mighty city. 

After a walk of nearly a mile and a half through 
the Corso, from near the Spanish square at the foot 
of the Pincian hill, across the old Campus Martius, we 
crossed a part of the Capitoline hill, through a narrow 
dirty lane. We now suddenly found ourselves in an 
open tract of ground, about half a mile long, and of 
a narrow oblong shape, stretching before us toward 
the south-east ; traversed indeed by two or three 
rows of short trees, and nearly surrounded by build- 
ings and cultivated grounds, but left to run entirely 
waste, and serving no purpose but that of a thorough- 



216 ROME. 

fare. On the right, and in front, it was irregularly 
bounded by several hills, probably once of gentle 
ascent, but now partly broken by precipices near 
their highest level, as if artificially cut round to faci- 
litate their defence in some long past age. On the 
left, was a broken line of large edifices, which pre- 
sented such a confusion of ancient and modern archi- 
tecture, that it was impossible to tell what to think 
of them : — ^tasteless modern brick walls, patching out 
the remains of ancient fabrics, which still retained the 
impaired honours of the deeply sculptured frieze, and 
ranges of magnificent but weather-beaten columns. 
At a second survey, the eye might observe the waste 
soil excavated in various places, as if for hidden trea- 
sure ; and here and there a cluster of two or three 
columns, or a single one standing at a melancholy dis- 
tance from its fellows, as if removed to meditate over 
the destruction of some incomparable structure, of 
which it was now the only memorial. Close at hand 
on the right, was something resembling a tall gateway, 
of hewn stone, richly ornamented with sculptured devi- 
ces, and standing in the midst of a circular excavation, 
which had been carried to the depth of nearly twenty 
feet, to reach the level of its foundation. So familiarly 
did many of these objects strike my eye, particularly 
those immediately around me, that it was hardly neces- 
sary to decipher " P. P. Optimis fortissimisq," &c. on 
the Triumphal Arch, or "Div. Antonino et Faustina. 
S. C." (fee. on the entablature supported by the near- 
est columns, to realize that I was in the Roman forum, 
and to claim a closer kindred with the silent language 
of ancient Rome, than I can ever feel for any thing in 
the modern city. 

We easily learnt that the hill on the western side 
was the Palatine : and hastening across the interve* 
ning space, which presented no obstacles to a conve-^ 



ROME. 217 

nient traverse, except such as were formed by exca- 
vations and masses of broken marble, we were soon 
mounting towards the top, along a narrow road shut 
in by the walls of vineyards. The materials of which 
these walls were composed, were in perfect keeping 
with every thing around us : for bits of broken ancient 
amphorae were mingled with shapeless stones, dug 
from the bosom of the hill ; and these, in turn, with 
blocks of marble, and the mutilated remains of sculp- 
ture, which had aided in the construction of the 
splendid edifices that had successively occupied and 
mingled with the soil. And it seemed a study of a 
new and instructive character — a science which might 
tolerate the name of historical geology — to contem- 
plate this confused assemblage of memorials : once 
integral portions of the palaces of the kings, the 
consuls, and the Caesars, now picked up so at hazard 
on the ground, thrown so carelessly together, and devo- 
ted to so ignoble a purpose. 

A short walk, still between vineyard walls which 
completely confined the view, brought us to a convent, 
where the road terminated. This spot was too far 
south for our purpose, and in order to find one which 
should overlook the Forum, we returned to a gate we 
had passed in ascending the hill; and after knocking, 
like Bunyan's pilgrims at the gate of the Interpreter, 
we were admitted by two gay peasant girls, who had 
evidently been running from a good distance to open 
the gate, and were much disappointed at discovering 
that, instead of some of their friends, we were only 
a brace of travellers in search of ruins. We were 
allowed, though with a bad grace, to traverse the 
Farnesian Gardens, so called after Pope Paul IIF. 
who laid out all this northern end of the Palatine hill 
into pleasure grounds, and built a fine edifice for an en- 

28 



218 ROME. 

trance, facing the Forum. The rustic architecture here, 
as well as the fountains, statues and flights of steps, 
wore a striking air of magnificence neglected ; for the 
place has been nearly deserted since the death of its 
former possessor. That is indeed a recent event 
for this neighbourhood; and though the grounds 
retain few appearances of an ornamental garden, yet 
the less perishable objects are in tolerably good pre- 
servation, for Paul III. lived in the sixteenth century, 
only a little while before the Landing at Plymouth ! 

Our path up the hill was the main alley through the 
vineyards. The ground was perfectly bare, excepting 
only the leafless vines, and the slight frames and sticks 
by which they were supported. The soil had at first 
the appearance of being thickly scattered with gra- 
vel ; but this proved to be owing to vast quantities of 
bricks, marble, stones, and pottery, broken into small 
bits, and mingled by a long course of cultivation. It 
seemed no very incredible thing, when we reflected 
what piles of buildings had in former ages occupied the 
ground : for the earth was filled with an indiscriminate 
and incalculable mass of ruins. Here one naturally 
thinks of subterranean apartments, and undiscovered 
treasures hid beneath the ground ; for in a place so 
teeming with memorials of former times, a stranger 
thinks he could not rest until the dark interior is ex- 
posed to view ; and quite unsatisfied with what he 
sees upon the surface, feels that he would gladly 
lend his strength to lay open the foundations of the 
immortal Mons Palatinus, and search out the myste- 
rious cause of its fame. A little boy who followed 
us proposed to show us the baths of Julia, which he 
described as the remains of some rich apartments 
not long ago discovered beneath the surface, and the 
only remains of antiquity in this part of the hill which 



ROME. 219 

have escaped destruction and removal. The rooms 
are so dark as to require a torch; and though the 
walls still retain some traces of their ancient gilding, 
the place is both damp and disagreeable. 

As there was no fence, wall, nor other interruption 
on this end of the hill, we easily found a point which 
looked towards the Capitol; but on arriving at the 
brow, the ground proved to be so broken that caution 
was necessary to keep from slipping into deep 
holes, half overgrown with shrubs, which threatened 
the loss of limbs, if not of life. For here was an im- 
mense pile of ruinous brick buildings, which, standing 
against the foot of the hill, and abutting against its pre- 
cipitous side, rose as high as the spot where we stood, 
and had probably been originally carried to a much 
greater height. To judge from what remained, the 
apartments below, into which we had well nigh slip- 
ped, must have been of a magnificent size, and pro- 
bably fifty or sixty feet high, yet we could find no men- 
tion made of them in our books. 

Several churches were below us, and one of them 
on the left, called the church of St. Theodore, has 
been formed of an ancient brick temple to Romulus 
and Remus, on the spot where those founders of the 
city are said to have been exposed when infants, and 
nursed by the wolf 

The Capitoline hill was now opposite, and at the 
distance of about a quarter of a mile. Imagining for 
a moment the buildings removed with which it is 
covered, there remains the irregular hill where the 
Sabines were stationed ; and from this spot where 
we stand, might Romulus himself have scowled on 
their habitations, and watched their motions with a 
jealous eye. If we are disposed, we may agree that 
here was perhaps one of the corners of his mud-walled 



220 ROME. 

city, for among the many learned conjectures which 
have been made on this subject, it would be strange if 
some respectable authority could not be found to 
countenance this or almost any other opinion. Fol- 
lowing with the eye the line of the Capitoline hill 
to the left, it terminates with a rocky precipice 
forty or Mty feet high, looking towards the Tiber. 
The spot, I believe, was not visible to us, on account 
of some interposed buildings; but it is proper to 
speak of it in this place, to give a clearer idea of the 
Tarpeian Rock, for such in fact it is. 

It has been remarked by others that the Romans, as 
early as the days of some of the first kings, seem to have 
acted on a belief that the city was to be immortal; 
for there are several specimens of their architecture 
still remaining, which are all remarkable for the 
strength and solidity of their structure. One of these 
was now directly cnposite, and in full view : the ancient 
foundation of the Capitol. The superstructure is mo- 
dern, and an indifferent, or rather a mean building. 
The foundation is composed of large blocks of trave- 
tine^ or limestone from the other side of the river, 
laid together without mortar, and retaining their posi- 
tions, though much roughened by long exposure to 
the action of the weather. This style of building was a 
transition indeed from the mud wall and straw palace 
of Romulus: and one accustomed to speculate on 
the progress of society, and to explain the interesting 
phenomena it has often presented, could scarcely wish 
for a more favourable situation for the indulgence of 
his taste. But this contrast is not greater than that 
between the foundation of the Capitol and yonder 
remains of the temple of Jupiter Tonans; nor is the 
manly taste of the early kings at a farther remove 
from that of the Augustan age, than those graceful 



ROME. 221 

Corinthian columns, raised by Augustus himself, from 
the doting childishness of the modern Capitol. Neither 
are these few objects the only ones calculated to lead 
the mind to such a train of comparisons ; every thing 
within the compass of our view, has a direct relation 
to one of these three periods in the history of the 
place, and calls them up to the mind, with a distinct- 
ness and interest which it is difficult not to feel, and 
certainly impossible to express. The foundation, the 
triumph, or the degradation of Rome, is written on 
every object before us, and quite intelligibly even on 
the pebbles beneath our feet; and the sublimity of the 
feelings excited by the contemplation, is proportioned 
to the range taken by the mind in grasping the crowd 
of great ideas connected with each, which it succes- 
sively relinquishes, but to return again and again to 
contemplate them anew. 

Nature has not distinguished the Capitoline, or even 
the Palatine, by any ascendancy of height or pecu- 
liarity of form : innumerable hills scattered all over 
the Campagna, offered equal advantages for conve- 
nience and defence ; and its present desolation, when 
regarded in connection with this fact, is the severest 
comment on the fickleness of fortune. The upper 
part of the Forum, in the valley just below, was for^ 
merly occupied by the Curtian Lake, in which one of 
the first kings was well nigh destroyed in fleeing from 
the Sabines ; but its water was afterwards all dried 
up, and the spot where the enemy were checked and 
the king's life preserved is still commemorated, in the 
opinion of some, by yonder three tall columns, said to 
be the remains of a splendid temple erected in after 
times to Jupiter Stator. But the levelling hand of time 
has once more reduced the scene to an appearance 
almost as unvarying and dreary as that of the wide 



222 HOME. 

spread and useless Cur dan Lake ; for the wrecks ol 
statues and honorary columns, temples and senate 
houses, dashed in pieces and scattered all around, 
now form a mass of ruins which conceal the ancient 
surface, and the streets and pavements by which it is 
still divided, while they present of themselves only 
a melancholy sight of hopeless confusion. 

At no great distance, we reached the south-western 
brow of the hill, and were presented with a more ex- 
tended prospect, over the Tiber and its banks, with the 
long Janiculine Hill rising from the opposite side of the 
river. But the confusion of our minds was only increas- 
ed by this view, and the necessity of traversing the city 
and visiting every important object in detail, seemed 
greater than before. Our map however showed the 
form of the Circus Maximus, delineated near the foot 
of the Palatine on that side ; and a large piece of 
level ground was with some difficulty distinguishable 
in that position, in the form of an elongated horse- 
shoe about half a mile in extent, though the walls 
have long since been levelled with the ground, and 
the soil cultivated as a vineyard, except where the 
ancient foundations still peep a little way above the 
surface. Here then was the spot so familiar to our 
school-boy recollections, where Romulus decoyed the 
Sabine fair within the power of his little army, and 
where afterwards were displayed the most splendid 
Roman games, before a crowd of spectators that 
would people all the habitations of modern Rome ; 
and yonder balcony on the left, among the ruins of the 
palace of the Caesars, is the place whence the signals 
were given for commencing the races and the combats. 

On our way back, across the Farnesian Gardens 
and down the hill, we caught in succession a view of 
different parts of the Forum, which we were better 



ROME 223 

able to consider in reference to their history, since the 
brief but delightful hour we had devoted to the unin- 
terrupted study of the place. When we reached the 
great terrace in front of the gardens and on the 
declivity of the hill, the eastern side of the Forum 
was seen directly opposite us ; its boundary still 
marked, as has been already mentioned, by the re- 
mains of several ancient buildings occurring here and 
there. Beginning on the left hand and at the foot of 
the Capitoline, they are in the following order : the 
Temple of Saturn, or perhaps only its site, and those 
of Antoninus and Faustina, of Remus, of Peace, and 
of Venus and Rome. 

As we left the vineyard again by the gate, and 
descended the hill into the Forum, a sudden turn to 
the right brought us to the half-ruinous Triumphal 
Arch of Titus, which stands very near the south 
western limit of the ancient Forum. It is built with 
solidity, of large blocks of marble, and in the form of 
a simple gateway ; but the deep channels worn into its 
surface by time, and the immediate historical connec- 
tion it has with the overthrow of Jerusalem, have 
imparted to it a moral grandeur which even superior 
antiquity or magnitude alone could never possess. 
Those who have read the Scriptures from their 
infancy, and been taught to mourn with the saints and 
prophets of Israel, over the desolation of the city of 
David and the house of God, can never approach un- 
affected and regard this monument of heathen tri- 
umph. As we entered the shelter of the arch, we 
trod the stones of the old Sacred Way, which lay yet 
undisturbed under our feet : probably the same pave- 
ment that Titus and his whole train passed over, in 
their triumphant march to the Capitol, when they 
brougbt the spoils of the Holy Temple, and a large 



224 ROME. 

company of Jewish captives. On the right are seen, 
beautifully sculptured in relief, the seven golden can- 
dlesticks, the silver trumpet, the table of shew-bread, 
and the book of the law, all borne by priests marching 
in order; and on the other side is the emperor, in his 
triumphal car, drawn by four horses, harnessed abreast, 
and represented with the highest skill of the sculptor. 
The chariot is accompanied by the Genius of the 
Senate, and Victory, bearing a crown and a branch of 
palm from Palestine. This record of history, contain- 
ing more details than I have enumerated, still speaks to 
the eye and to the mind in language as clear and 
impressive as when it was first erected. But the 
unyielding spirit of the captives retains to this day all 
its pride and sternness. There are many Jews now in 
Rome, the descendants of the prisoners of Titus ; but 
it is said that not a son of Israel has ever passed this 
detested spot, and trodden this part of the Sacred 
Way, since the day of his triumph. They still delight 
to trace back their pedigree to those whose humilia- 
tion they have inherited : while, it is said, not a man 
in being can establish a clear and undoubted claim to 
the blood of any ancient Roman family. 

From this place, which was called Summa Sacra Via, 
or the highest part of the Sacred Way, the pavement de- 
scends before us towards the south, for nearly a quarter 
of a mile to the Colosseum. A little out of sight on our 
right, and just round the base of the Palatine hill, was the 
Arch of Constantine ; between that and the Colosseum 
or Amphitheatre of Titus, and at a greater distance 
than either, was seen the Coelian Hill, almost surround- 
ed by a broken wall of ruined edifices, not formed for 
defence but for splendour ; whose plan, and whose pos- 
sessors are long since lost in oblivion. On the left 
was an open tract of ground, adjoining the Forum, and 



ROME. 



225 



extending quite to the Colosseum. The surface was 
broken bj fragments from ancient buildings, and deep 
excavations, which were so frequent as to render the 
ground in many places impassable. Near us had been 
dug out the foundations of the ancient Reservoir, 
which supplied the Amphitheatre with water, to float 
the navies which there performed their mimic sea- 
fights ; and several trenches, branching out from this 
great excavation, reached to within a few feet of the 
spot where we stood. Misshapen blocks of stone and 
marble, and large, mutilated remnants of sculpture 
lay about us, just as they had been thrown out by the 
workmen, the most valuable having been removed to 
the public or private museums of the city. 

Here was the site of Nero's Golden House — an edi- 
fice, or rather an immense assemblage of edifices, which 
required the burning of this part of Rome to make 
room for them, and which eclipsed every thing that 
had before been called magnificent. It extended from 
near this place, far to the left across the end of the 
Forum, to the Esquiline Hill, including in its way the 
Temple of Peace, which formed its vestibule, and yon- 
der ruins beyond, now belonging to the Baths of Titus. 
All this waste tract of ground before us was divided 
into gardens and pleasure grounds, surrounded on all 
sides by different parts of this gigantic structure, and 
filled with rare plants and animals from various parts 
of the world. The Colosseum occupies the place of 
the great fish-pond ; and if we may believe Suetonius, 
the splendour* and costhness of the decorations fully 
equalled the extent of the " Golden House." His 
account, replenished with an enumeration of theatres, 
baths, and three almost endless colonnades ; a dining 
hall from whose revolving dome roses were showered 
npon the guests ; a statue one hundred feet high in 

29 



226 ROME. 

the vestibule ; together with the magnificent plan^ 
formed by the lunatic emperor, for bringing water to 
his baths from the Lake of Avernus and Baiae, as well 
as for making a canal from Baiae to Ostium — all this 
seems incredible : or rather it would seem incredible 
but for the vast ruins now before our eyes. If men 
could rear such piles as these ruins denote, and 
such a mountain of stone as the Colosseum, why 
should they not be able to perform the extravagant 
wishes even of Nero himself? When human power 
has reached this point, where shall the limit be 
placed ? 

The Via Sacra was the principal street in Rome. 
It was one of the great passages leading into the Fo- 
rum, and was still left open when the Golden House 
was built. This was the way by which the priests pro- 
ceeded to the Capitol to consult the auguries, and tri- 
umphing generals to the temple of Jupiter Pharetrius 
to deposit their spoils. Along this pavement it was that 
the poet Horace was walking, when he was accosted 
by the impertinent fellow he describes in one of his 
satires, so much to the taste of school-boy days and of 
riper years : 

" Ibam forte Via Sacra, sicut meus est mos, 
Nescio quid meditans nugarum, totus in illis : 
Accurrit quidam notus mihi nomine tantum, 
Arreptaque manu ; Quid agis, dulcissirae, rerum r" 

[ I was walking in the Sacred Way, according to my custom, and thinking 
about some trifle, I know not what, when I was overtaken by one I hardly 
knew by name, who caught me by the hand ; " Ah, my dear friend ! What 
are you doing here ?" — &c.] 

This incident happened, these lines were written in 
the Augustan age; when Rome was at the summit of 
her glory, in power, learning and arts — when her influ- 
ence was acknowledged throughout all countries, and , 



ROME. 22T 

she was confessed the mistress of the world. There 
was then an obscure island far in the north, which was 
regarded as the most distant point of her dominion, 
and of creation ; deep sunk in barbarism, and fit only 
to be contemned and enslaved. But what changes 
had centuries produced ! A native of that same island, 
with an inhabitant of a country a thousand leagues be- 
yond, were now standing here among heaps of ruins, 
having renounced much of the comfort and security of 
civihzation to reach the place, lamenting at the degen- 
eracy, nay the misery of Rome, and wishing that the 
moral, religious, and civil blessings of their own coun- 
tries might find their way to this; that the Romans 
might be taught to understand, and then enabled to 
obtain the elevated character, and the civil and reli- 
gious liberty of Great Britain and of America. We 
stepped from the pavement, to admire the remains of 
several fine columns of Egyptian granite; and while 
remarking that although they were three or four feet 
in diameter, and but recently dug out of the ground, 
they still retained their original hardness, and even the 
glassy polish of their surfaces, our ears were assailed 
by the petitions of two or three poor old women, who 
followed us round among these ruins of splendour, re- 
gardless of what attracted our admiration, and intent 
only on obtaining a little money : for Rome abounds 
more with memorials of the dead, than with food for 
the living; and what is it to these poor creatures that 
their ancestors were powerful and magnificent ? They 
themselves are beggars, and their children clamorous 
for bread. 

From the arch of Titus towards the north, or north- 
east, the Sacred Way is supposed to have proceeded 
by a gentle descent, and traversed rather obliquely 
the length of the Forum, to the arch of Severus, and 



228 ROME. 

the foot of the Capitoline hill ; but it is now so deeply 
covered by the earth, that no part of it can be disco- 
vered vi^ithout digging to a considerable depth. Nearly 
opposite to us on the other side of the Forum, were 
the remains of the Temple of Peace, v^^hich are sup- 
posed to have formed for the time the vestibule of 
Nero's house ; and here we were struck with astonish- 
ment, having never seen such wide and noble arches. 
They are, we supposed, about eighty feet in height; 
yet the whole fabric is of bricks, broad and square it 
is true, yet hardly thicker than a finger. Even the 
arches are turned and locked with them, and incredi- 
ble as it must appear to those accustomed only to our 
own perishable constructions, the whole is generally 
very well preserved, and seems capable of enduring 
the storms for a thousand years to come. The floor 
of the temple is still preserved, as well as the bases of 
several immense columns, and the foundation of the 
steps which led up from the street. The ground has 
been excavated in front of the temple; and, at the 
depth of about twenty feet, is laid bare the ancient 
pavement, which resembles that of the Sacred Way 
and indeed all Roman roads, in having the stones 
unhewn, of a size too large to be removed by carria- 
ges and resting on a solid substratum. 

The church of St. Adrian stands a little way off 
towards the Colosseum, among the ruins of a double 
temple, by some attributed to the Sun and Moon, by 
others to Venus and Rome, and by others still to Isis 
and Serapis. On the other side, and towards the Capi- 
toline, is the little circular brick temple of Remus, or 
Romulus and Remus, from which was removed a bro- 
ken marble pavement containing a mutilated map of 
the ancient city ; and still farther on, we hastened to 
examine the beautifnl portico of the temple of Antoni- 



ROME. 229 

nus and Faustina. The ten columns still remain in 
their places, and have escaped unbroken the ravages 
of time, showing only the slighter injuries produced by 
the elements. Each column consists of a single shaft 
of light-greenish marble, much admired in ancient 
times. Several of them were arranged according to 
the order in which they were dug from the quarry, for 
veins of a more perishable nature than the rest of the 
stone, showed themselves by corresponding channels 
worn nearly horizontally at a great height from the 
ground. The frieze is covered with griffins beautifully 
sculptured, and the entablature bears the ancient in- 
scription ; yet in the rear is erected a modern church, 
and men enter by this noble portico, and kneel before 
the pictures of Saint Lorenzo, to whom the building is 
dedicated. The temple of Romulus and Remus has 
also been converted to a Christian use, and received 
the names of Saints Cosmo and Damiano ; but the re- 
maining arches of the temple of Peace have been left 
exposed to the sunshine and rain, hallowed however 
in the eyes of the people by a small cross elevated 
at the top, among the shrubbery with which it is 
crowned, to preserve them from dilapidation ; though 
cattle often wander to its shade from the Forum, (which 
in Italian bears the name of the Cow-Pasture,) and lie 
quietly down in the inmost recess of the temple. 

But it is high time that I should render the merited 
acknowledgments to the books and map which we took 
with us this morning, as a guide to these interesting 
objects, and from which with little labour, though per- 
haps not without an appearance of more profound 
learning than we possess, we gleaned the various par- 
ticulars detailed above, concerning the history of the 
ruins in this part of the city. Our excursions about 
Naples, and our journey hither, had indeed given us 



230 l^OME. 

some degree of familiarity with Roman remains; yet 
here we must have felt entirely at a loss, but for the 
sensible and pertinent remarks of our intelligent author. 
Under his direction we may traverse the city with ease 
and delight. Every thing has been rendered plain and 
satisfactory to-day, except indeed in a few instances 
when he has expressed his opinions on disputed points 
with a little too much self-confidence, and in a style de- 
cidedly dictatorial, and then we have caught ourselves 
unconsciously taking up the opposition, and smiled to 
see how soon we were learning to fight him with his 
own weapons, [n truth such a companion may soon 
teach a traveller so much on some local and classical 
points, that he will look upon himself with amazement, 
and might pass with a superficial observer for a student 
by profession, and one who has spent his life in a 
library. 

The remarks of this book concerning the Forum, may 
be read many times with new interest on this spot ; and 
every one will assent to the observation, that " there 
was not a place more celebrated or more frequented 
in the whole city." In the times of Romulus and some 
of the other early kings, it was very contracted, ex- 
tending only from the side of the temple of Antoninus 
and Faustina, where we are standing, to the foot of the 
Capitoline ; and yonder, where is now the church of 
Saint Adrian, was the ancient bronze temple of Saturn, 
which served as a safe and public deposit for the most 
valuable property. Somewhere near that stood the 
magnificent Palace of Emilia, built by the Consul Pau- 
lus Emilius about half a century before our era, with 
money sent from Gaul by Julius Caesar. Nearly west 
of us and directly across the Sacred Way, at the spot 
where it took the name of the Sacred Ascent, was 
built the Arch of Fabius, erected by the censor of that 



KOME. 



231 



name, who also adorned it with shields taken from the 
Allobrogi. Next came the Temple of Julius Caesar, 
and then the new rostra, which extended almost to the 
other side of the Forum, where stood the Temple of 
Vesta, the repository of the sacred fire, on the site 
now occupied by the church of Saint Mary the Libe- 
rator. Thence, on the line northerly to the Capitoline, 
the first was the temple of Castor and Pollux, to which 
some refer those three beautiful columns standing to- 
gether yonder unshaken by the hand of barbarians, 
or the still more resistless power of time : their origi- 
nal grace and majesty redoubled by the waste and 
ruin around them. Next was the Comitium, an open 
space elevated by a few steps above the Forum, con- 
taining the Curia Hostilia, where the senate held their 
sessions, and the pulpits for orators decorated with the 
ancient beaks of ships. On the north side, under the 
steep brow of the Capitoline Hill, and at the base of the 
Capitol itself, was the street called Vicus Jugarius, 
w^hich is now partly exposed to view by a trench, in 
some places nearly twenty feet deep. The pavement 
is still unbroken, but it has a steep descent, and is so 
narrow that it must have been dark and inconvenient. 
The only remains of edifices here, are the well known 
columns of the temples to Jupiter Tonans, and the 
Arch of Severus. 

This enumeration of the principal buildings in the 
Forum in ancient times, will be sufficient to give some 
idea of its plan and appearance. It is quite unneces- 
sary to enter at large into a list of the numerous and 
splendid edifices with which it was ornamented at 
subsequent periods; and it need only be added, that 
the golden monument from which the various roads 
were measured, was placed near the Capitol; and 
that the middle of the Forum was devoted to nume- 



232 



ROIVIE. 



rous statues and honorary columns erected to indivi- 
duals. Of these last a single one still remains ; on the 
pedestal of which was discovered so late as 1813, an 
inscription dedicating it to the Emperor Foca. Here 
were held the meetings of the people for the elections 
of civil and religious officers ; and here were heard 
the addresses of all the ancient orators of Rome. It 
seems indeed almost incredible that here should have 
been weighed and determined so many of those 
mighty events which crowd the history of the empire ; 
yet these ruins are in accordance both with her mag- 
nificence and her antiquity, and the very vegetation of 
the Campo Vaccino is stinted by the dilapidated orna- 
ments of the Roman Forum. 

Whether these were the limits assigned to the Forum 
in subsequent times, I frankly confess myself too ill- 
informed to venture an opinion of my own. Our 
author is quite sure this was the fact, in spite of the con- 
trary assertions of " certain moderns." It is clear 
however that others, either more or less learned than 
himself, have extended it quite to the Arch of Titus ; 
and on the strength of their authority, for my own 
convenience, I have heretofore spoken of it in that 
manner. 

In searching out the remains of the Baths of Titus, 
we got ourselves involved in not a little perplexity : 
for though the distance from the Forum is small, the 
ascent of the EsquiHne Hill on which they stand is so 
much occupied with modern houses, high walls and 
irregular streets, that it was rarely in our power to see 
where we were going. The materials of which the 
houses, the walls and the pavements were composed, 
afforded sufficient evidence of our being still in a part 
of the city which was very populous in ancient times : 
for bits of amphorae, or earthen jars, bricks and 



ROME. 



233 



marble were interspersed abundantly among the rub- 
bish of the slovenly modern masonry; and wherever 
the declivity was unpaved, the rains had cut their chan- 
nels into a deep mass of similar composition. It was 
not uncommon to see a fragment of a column, plain or 
fluted, planted before the door of a mean habitation, 
or a ruined frieze or relievo mingled with ignoble 
rocks that had never been quarried. In one place we 
noticed the head of some nameless statue, fastened in 
the cement of a garden wall, and staring on us with 
its ghastly eye-balls ; and once I involuntarily started 
on stepping upon a broken slab of marble in the 
pavement, at seeing that well known inscription which 
Cicero had taught us to venerate : " S. P. Q. R." — 
for it had borne the record of one of the mighty de- 
crees of the " Senate and People of Rome.'''' It is pow- 
erless indeed at present, but methinks it is a melan- 
choly thing to see such lofty majesty sunk down so 
low ; and every passer-by must go on meditating 
more intently upon ancient glory than upon present 
degradation. 

On the gate of a vineyard near the top of the hill we 
observed these words : " Bagni de Tito," scrawled 
with apiece of charcoal, and found it to be an entrance 
to the place we sought, although we had passed the 
same way twice or thrice before without seeing it. 
A labourer admitted us with an ill grace, for there is 
another entrance more public than this, and we found 
ourselves in a field of several acres, covered with 
vegetables and vines, just on the brow of the Esquiline. 
The situation is commanding, and embraces part of the 
Capitoline and Palatine hills, with an interrupted view 
of the Forum in the valley between them ; and in front 
overlooks the Aventine Mount, with the Colosseum, 
rearing her immense walls just below us, as if to inter- 

30 



234 :R0ME. 

pose a rival bulk. The ground on which we stand is 
rich with the recollections of antiquity ; and let us re- 
joice that another interesting site is suffered to remain 
unoccupied, and in a state corresponding with the humi- 
lity to which time has reduced it — this is an appro- 
priate condition for scenes like this, for cities like 
Rome. 

Our oracle mentions that the famous villa and 
academy of Meccenas were situated on the Esquiline, 
that his gardens occupied the grounds a little behind us, 
and that the dwellings of his friends Propertius, Virgil, 
and Horace were somewhere in the vicinity. Modern 
magnificence should never encroach upon this spot : it 
would strike a dismal discord with the edifices which 
the imagination loves to rear on such a place ; for the 
mind delights in a bold flight from these ashes 
and ruins to the piles they once composed ; from 
a half cultivated vineyard >o the field and gardens of 
the ancient Mons Esquilinus, here scrupulously limited 
and divided by powerful and jealous neighbours, and 
there spread out and decorated by the hand of gene- 
rous taste ; in short from a patch of kitchen vegeta- 
bles to the parterres of Mecsenas, and the court-yard 
and grass-plot of Virgil and Horace. 

The poor labourer called to us as we w^alked on 
towards the southern brow of the hill, to beware of our 
steps, for we were already treading unconsciously over 
the subterranean apartments of Titus's Baths ; and 
yonder bush concealed a fracture in the roof of one 
of them, which we might have approached without 
his well-timed caution. The only remaining apart- 
ments are those on the ground ; all the upper parts of 
the structure having been entirely destroyed. Even 
these remains lay unknown till the beginning of the 
16th century, when they were cleared of the rubbish 



ROME. 235 

which had washed in from the brow of the hill above, 
and then the ancient and celebrated group of the Lao- 
coon was discovered, with many other precious relics. 
After this the ruins were neglected, and became again 
filled with earth, and thus they remained until they 
were lately cleared out by the French while they were 
in possession of Rome. This edifice, although smaller 
than either of the other two public baths whose re- 
mains we are hereafter to see, viz. those of Diocletian 
and Caracalla, still encloses a square of about a thou- 
sand English feet, or nearly a quarter of a mile each 
way. No part of the upper story is to be found, and 
nothing remains but some of the apartments belonging 
to the ground floor. 

We were obHged to descend by a crooked course to 
arrive at the entrance, which was shut from view even 
at a little distance by great heaps of earth removed 
from the interior. From behind one of these a man 
made his appearance who offered to be our guide, and 
first we followed him into several isolated rooms in the 
wall, which are supposed to have served for shops, 
from the number of amphorae, and other things found 
in them. A quantity of dry paints of different colours 
was still lying upon the floor and in broken vessels, 
which we were told Sir Humphrey Davy has lately 
analyzed, and found to be metallic. Through a 
breach forced in the wall, we entered a succession of 
passages, which led off from a spacious corridor, 
injured indeed by long exposure to the dampness of 
the ground, and shut out from every beam of day 
light, yet glittering to the light of our torches with 
remnants of the gold which once ornamented the 
walls, and showing a fine arched ceiling above, when 
our guide raised a light upon a long pole, about thirty 
feet in height. Many damaged paintings were also to 



236 HOME. 

he seen on the walls, of superior beauty and bright 
colours ; and in some of the bathing rooms to which 
these passages conducted, were the fragments of mar- 
ble basins, and the old water channels. Some of the 
apartments according to our torch bearer, were for 
warming and cooling the body before and after 
bathing ; for the plan adopted here was that imported 
from Greece, and contained the various parts indi- 
cated by the names Sudarium, Tepidarium, Calida- 
ium, Octaedrum, &c. though our book says these were 
all on the second-story. The re-opening of these ruins 
afforded to the antiquaries with whom Rome must ever 
abound, ample space to exert their talents ; and in no 
instance have I seen such a display of antiquarian 
learning — so intimate an acqaintance with the history, 
manners and customs of former days, combined with 
a minute knowledge of local subjects ; for in no in- 
stance have I seen a case involving such a compli- 
cation of different dates, obscure points of history and 
indirect inferences. It is what might well be called, if 
antiquarians had a technical language to express it, 
a complicated case. Without mentioning the nume- 
rous conjectures which have been started concerning 
the plan of the second story, it will be sufficient to 
communicate some idea of the intricacy of the subject 
and of the sagacity with which it has been investigated, 
briefly to repeat some of our cicerone's remarks. 

He requested our attention to the structure of the 
walls, while we were passing through the corridor. 
We found them to consist of a mixed mass of mate- 
rials; some of which had evidently been employed 
in previous buildings, and some were large pieces of 
earthen jars : indeed every thing indicated heedlessness 
and haste. Several small chambers, which we soon 
after entered, were evidently of a different date. The 



ROME. 237 

walls stood at an awkward angle with those contigu- 
ous, and were built with care and regularity, although 
the bricks are thick and of a loose texture. But on 
entering a long and narrow passage, we immediately 
recognised the beautiful Roman brick work of the 
best times — the broad, square bricks, close, hard and 
thin, with a bright red colour and sharp edges — 
which brought to mind the construction of the temples 
of Peace and of Remus in the Forum, and many a ruin- 
ous heap at Baiae and Pompeii. These walls were 
evidently built before the degenerate days of Roman 
architecture ; before permanency and real grandeur 
began to give place to overgrown size and external 
splendour. From this circumstance and various 
others, this part of the building is presumed to have 
belonged to the palace of Mecaenas. The small apart- 
ments mentioned just before are supposed to be 
the remains of Nero's Golden House ; the corridor 
and passages are indubitably of still later date, and 
the apartments to which they conducted, are all parts 
of Titus's baths. To go round in the dark, and choose 
out all the facts which lead to these conclusioiis, to 
discuss them, and to draw rational inferences, was no 
doubt a difficult task : but when the recapitulation 
was thus made by the parrot's tongue of our cicerone, 
the whole seemed to us perfectly obvious. 

It is well known that many exquisite paintings were 
found among these ruins, and that the graceful de- 
signs of the numerous arabesques are studied by mo- 
dern artists. In the long passage of Mecasnas's house, 
the upper part of the walls, and the arched roof, which 
are about thirty feet high, are decorated with small 
pictures, containing groups of animals, men, and hea- 
then gods, all represented with great spirit, and still pre- 
serving the original brilliancy of their colours. In exa- 



238 ROME. 

mining to find the domestic animals of antiquity, I wa^ 
not a little surprised to see that neither the large grej^ 
or cream coloured cattle I have so often met with, nor 
the buflfalos which so abound on the marshes, were 
any where to be seen ; but instead of them I disco- 
vered several others of a moderate size, and black, 
chesnut, or party-coloured— and 1 might almost say, 
of the very breed most common in New England. 
There was particularly one old milch-cow, with high 
bones, and an honest crumpled horn, that might have 
felt at home in any of our substantial farmers' yards ; 
and it was strange to think that she had been driven 
to pasture in Latin, and perhaps pounded in Rome, 
With regard to the figures composing the various 
groups of gods, goddesses, &c. they appeared to us 
very finely drawn, although seen at such a disadvan- 
tage in the dark ; and to merit the expressive and 
beautiful terms repeatedly bestowed on them by the 
guide : '^ graziosi, graziosissimi !" [graceful, extremely 
graceful!] 

Some distance without the square enclosed by the 
baths, are the remains of the great reservoir by which 
they were supplied with water. This is of itself a 
large edifice, and consists of nine parallel corridors, 
or great passages, from which branch off six smaller 
ones at right angles. The w^alls are guarded with a 
sort of plaster to a considerable height from the floor, 
and the quantity of w^ater which they were capable 
of containing must have been immense. 

It should have been mentioned while speaking of 
the bathing rooms, that we observed a hole in one 
of the floors, through which a long stick was thrust 
without any obstruction; and that we were assured 
there was pretty good evidence that another tier of 
unexplored apartments existed beneath us. The ex- 



ROME. 239 

pense of examining any farther will probably leave 
them long unknown, though perhaps other Laocoons 
may lie there concealed. 

We were led into a small ruinous apartment con- 
nected with this extensive building, which, when 
cleared of rubbish with the others, was found to have 
been used by Christians as a place of prayer. The 
walls still bear the remains of wretched paintings, 
intended to represent St. Felicita and her seven chil- 
dren who were martyred. Under each picture is writ- 
ten twice the appropriate name in Latin, with red 
chalk and black ; and the style of these and many 
other drawings proved that they were made at a pretty 
late period. Many fantastic lines and daubs are to 
be seen on removing the plaster from the walls, which 
must have been done between the desertion of the 
baths, and the conversion of the place to a reli- 
gious use. 

it may seem from these lengthened details concern- 
ing the first objects of our attention this morning, that 
the whole day must have been occupied in their con- 
templation. Far from it however, we had several 
hours to spare before sun-set. 

Following then the order adopted by our book, we 
set out to make a tour through the south-eastern por- 
tion of the city : it should rather be said, through the 
south-eastern part of the ground included by the an- 
cient walls, for it is almost destitute of habitations, 
and devoted to a meagre kind of cultivation. And 
from this moment I know not how it will be possible 
to separate the ancient from the modern, in the hasty 
view I propose to give of such objects in Rome as 
appear best calculated to bear a few remarks, after 
the innumerable descriptions which they have already 
received. Hardly a spot broad enough to stand upon can 



240 ROME. 

be found in the city, which is not remarkable for some 
venerable ruin, as the scene of some interesting event, 
the site of some specimen of modern taste, or at least, 
one of those situations where antiquaries have sought 
for the foundations of some departed temple or palace, 
now existing only on the pages of Roman historians. 
And these are mingled in such abundance and vari- 
ety, that any attempt to separate them would be dis- 
couraging, and perhaps very far from necessary, even 
if successful. The constant rambling from one part 
of the city to another, which would be necessary if 
the objects were to be mentioned according to the 
order of their dates, would soon involve the whole in 
in perplexity, instead of taking the reader leisurely 
along from street to street, with an occasional refer- 
ence to the plan of the city, noticing things as they 
actually present themselves. 

From the baths of Titus a walk of nearly a quar- 
ter of a mile south, about equal to the length of one 
side of the square occupied by the baths, brought us 
to the Colosseum. This object I prefer to pass in 
silence, feeling how perfectly inadequate are words 
to convey any of those ideas communicated by the 
sight of its overwhelming dimensions. 

From this place the street of Saint John leads, in a 
direct line, to the magnificent church of that name, 
which we saw at our first entrance into Rome. On our 
right, as we passed along, lay the Coeiian mount; and 
beyond it the Aventine, entirely devoted to vineyards 
and gardens, except where a spot is occupied here and 
there by a miserable dwelling, a modern convent or 
church, or some solitary ruin. On our left was the 
Esquiline mount, which stretches along in a tortuous 
course, over a large tract of ground, and is equally de- 
serted by the population of the city. Close at hand, we 



ROME. 



241 



passed the church of St. Clement, and soon after, that 
of the Four crowned Saints. The former was built, as 
is supposed, in the time of Constantine, on the site of 
St. Clement's house, and restored and improved by 
many successive popes and cardinals; and the latter 
counts among its patrons several distinguished foreign- 
ers, particularly one of the kings of Portugal. A little 
beyond, we passed the spot where formerly stood one 
of the city gates erected by Servius, and an ancient 
arch. Next came the hospital of St. John in the 
Lateran ; and here we entered the great square, and 
proceeded towards the church, which, on account of 
its being the episcopal seat of the supreme pontiff, as 
bishop of Rome, bears the high-sounding title of 
" Mother and Head of the churches of the city and the 
world." The wide, open space on two sides of the 
church, is admirably calculated to give this magnificent 
edifice the full effect of its size and architecture ; and 
it seemed to produce in us the same surprise and plea- 
sure as when we first saw it. The Egyptian obelisk 
which is placed in the square, is a most remarkable 
object, both for its antiquity and for its being formed 
of a single block of granite. It is the largest known in 
the whole world, and was found among the ruins of 
Thebes, where it had been erected to the sun by 
Rameses king of Egypt. Augustus, it is said, feared 
to attempt the removal of it; but it was brought to 
Rome by Constantius, by the way of Ostium and the 
Tiber, in a large vessel fitted out expressly for the 
purpose. It was three times discovered among the 
ruins of the Circus Maximus, and as often suffered to 
become again covered and lost; till in 1588 it was 
taken out by one of the popes, and placed here. It 
measures 100 English feet in height, although broken 
into three pieces and the upper part lost : and is seven 

31 



242 HOME. 

or eight feet through at the base. It would be difficuit 
to conceive of an object more appropriately formed 
for a permanent historical record, or of a finer simple 
object of contemplation, exactly balanced as it is on 
its narrow foundation, and covered all over with hiero- 
glyphical figures, which, although involved in the 
deepest mystery, certainly bear a direct relation to 
the history of the Egyptians, who were to the Romans 
what the Romans are to us. 

The church of St. John in the Lateran is second 
only to St. Peter's ; and we felt on entering it, the same 
sensation of shrinking and withering to the size of 
insects. Indeed, the immensity of the buildings is so 
disproportioned to the human height and human wants, 
that it serves as a constant reproach to man for his am- 
bition. The pope, I think, must feel a twinge of hu- 
mility under these wide and lofty arches, to think how 
small a thing is he who wields such mighty power; 
though the architect might have gloried to see how 
much his genius surpassed the common bounds of 
mortals and their works. The body of the church is 
divided into five naves, by four parallel rows of broad 
pilasters running through its whole length ; and though 
wanting in many of those decorations so abundant in 
St. Peter's, there are numerous chapels formed against 
the walls, one of which, on the left, is that of the Cor- 
sini family, and is considered among the richest in the 
city. Its walls and floor are covered with a casing of 
rich and polished stones; and beneath are two sepul- 
chral vaults, one of which that of Pope Clement XIL 
is formed of an ancient porphyry urn, discovered 
under the portico of the Pantheon, and commonly call- 
ed the urn of Marcus Agrippa. A winding stair-case 
in this corner of the building conducts to the roof, from 
which the view is very extensive, but embraces too 



ROME. 243 

much of the deserted portion of the city, and of the 
neighbouring campagna, to excite any ideas but those 
of solitude and melancholy. 

Nearly opposite the church is a building with a hand- 
some open front, containing the Holy Stair-case, where 
several persons were seen going up the steps on their 
knees. The number of stairs is twenty-eight ; they are 
of white marble, and much worn down by frequent use 
in this manner, for they are said to be the stones which 
formed the ascent to Pilate's judgment-hall, and were 
sent from Jerusalem by Saint Helena, together with 
many other things venerated by the Catholics. Habit 
doubtless has rendered objects of this kind too com- 
mon in the eyes of the Romans, to be regarded in other 
than a superstitious light; but, to the inhabitants of a 
country so remote from the scenes of sacred history, 
every thing relating to it must come with peculiar 
interest. To look for the first time upon reliques like 
these, steps which perhaps have been actually trodden 
by the Saviour of men, the stones on which his feet have 
rested, opens to the mind a sudden and lively view 
of his character and life, of his sufferings and their 
effects ; and is calculated to awaken in the mind of a 
believer, such feelings as we see in calmer exercise in 
those who habitually worship God, and study and 
meditate the Scriptures. 

The city walls are all of ancient dates; for though 
their circuit was extended at different periods, till they 
embraced many times the size of the city as it was under 
the kings, they reached their maximum under some 
of the latest emperors, and which they still preserve. 
Their whole extent is reckoned at ten miles, and the 
present population of Rome at about 120,000; whichj 
by clustering together in the northern part of the city, 
occupies little more than the ancient Campus Martins, 



244 HQHE* 

the little Tiberine island, and the Capitoline hill. The 
more southern portions of the city therefore present 
. only large fields, and would be readily mistaken in 
many places for scenes in the country. 

Quite at the north end of the city, and close to the 
Gate of the People, is the Pincian mount, part of which 
has been thrown open for a public garden ; and here 
we found a number of English travellers and residents, 
enjoying the mild, serene air, and the extensive view 
which the place commands over the inhabited part of 
the city. There was hardly an Italian to be seen; for 
they seem to delight in no promenade but the crowded 
streets, in no ride out of the Corso, and in no truly 
manly exercise whatever. Wherever the English are 
found, on the contrary, there are found pedestrians, and 
still more equestrians ; and whether the traveller is at 
Gibraltar, Naples, or Rome : on the way to San Roque, 
at the Arco Felice, or here in the public garden of 
Rome, at a season like this, he may calculate on hear- 
ing prancing hoofs, and the homely sounds of our com- 
mon language. As we were passing along a path 
shaded with evergreens, a family party dashed gaily 
by on horseback. My companion gave a sudden, in- 
voluntary start. " Look at that lady in a green riding- 
dress !" he said, or rather exclaimed ; " is she not beau- 
tiful ? She is like one I knew in England : but it is all 
over now — 1 hate our poets because they talk about the 
sincerity of women. Some may perhaps be generous 
and true — indeed, some it would be unjust ever to 
doubt, but what is that to me ?" 

The sun had now set ; and as that has long been our 
signal for concluding the business of the day, we 
descended into the celebrated Square of the People. 
There, after admiring the Egyptian obelisk in the centre, 
the city gate on one side, and on the other the two cor- 



tlOME. 245 

responding churches of Saint Mary, with the three 
diverging streets which met in our eje, we pursued our 
course along that on the left, which leads to the Spa- 
nish Square, the principal resort of strangers, and 
were soon seated at table in a trattoria, among a very 
agreeable company, principally English travellers 
and resident artists, but including individuals of taste 
and limited fortunes from most of the countries of 
Europe. 

Public eating houses are very few in Rome, and on 
that account as well as for the moderate prices, these 
tables are quite crowded for several hours about this 
time of day. Next to the English the Germans appear 
to be the most numerous travellers in Italy, and bear a 
high character for intelligence and taste. Indeed one 
might easily form the same f^ivourable opinion of 
almost all classes of travellers, if he were to judge 
from the individuals collected there at our table : luxury 
and expense being both excluded by the character of 
the house, which derives a decided tone from the 
modesty of frugal travellers, and the chaste and po- 
lished manners of artists and amateurs. It would be 
a ditiicult matter to select from the bill of fare a din- 
ner which should exceed the price of half a -dollar, 
excluding wine ; and even with it many persons do 
not exceed half that sum. Indeed it seems to be a very 
prevalent custom for foreigners in Rome, to prefer the 
enjoyments of temperance, study and reflection to 
those of dissipation and idleness. Everyone must be 
disgusted with the vain atteujpts of modern power and 
splendour, to rival the real greatness and magnificence 
of antiquity : the immense ruins to be seen in almost 
every part of the city do so surpass the works of later 
years. Since the curtailment of the influence of the 
Church, the popes seem to have sought renown in patch- 



246 ROME. 

ing up and protecting the old monuments of the city. 
Abutments are built against tottering walls, and 
crosses are erected in all those places where the 
martyrs were called to spill their blood. We shall 
cheerfully render our thanks to the popes and the 
improved taste, for their scrupulous care of those noble 
edifices which age alone could hardly have injured; 
but at the same time the " restorer," or rather the 
repairer, often claims more merit than the original 
fooiider himself In short, present time appears with 
such discredit in Rome, in almost every point of view, 
that strangers cannot fail to be struck with the fact ; 
and they are induced to assume the modest manners 
of antiquaries, to assimilate themselves with that 
humility in which the grandeur of antiquity is attired. 
While at table, we heard for the first time the cur- 
rent topic of conversation : for we had been re- 
flecting all day on the illustrious fathers of Rome. 
It was such as to make us blush at the degeneracy of 
modern times : an army of barbarians, now known 
by the name of Austrians, being on their march for 
Naples, have impudently requested leave to pass 
unmolested through this territory, as if Rome were 
worthy to serve only as a thoroughfare to the foes of 
liberty; and instead of calling together the people in 
the Comitia, or throwing open the Temple of Janus 
and sounding the trumpet in the Praetorian camp, the 
consul, the emperor, — no, no — the pope, Has pub- 
lished an apology under the name of a decree, for 
acceding to the request, calling on all his dutiful 
children toforbe9r from offering any opposition, out of 
regard to their own safety. It is not known how far 
the Austrians have advanced, and there are contradic- 
tory accounts of the time when they may be expected 
here : but it is certain that much disquietude prevails 



ROME. 



247 



in different parts of the country, and that travelling is 
growing hazardous. Two English ladies have arrived 
from Florence this afternoon, who were stopped by 
robbers on the road, and robbed of their money and 
jewels, but were in other respects very courteously 
treated, and sent on their journey with many good 
wishes. 

Rome. — February 10. The Borghese Palace, to 
which we formed a party this morning, may serve as 
a specimen of Roman palaces ; and it seems well 
to despatch them in this summary manner, because to 
dilate on such a subject would be but to multiply the 
names of statues and pictures and the terms of archi- 
tecture, all which might readily be furnished from our 
convenient oracle in three volumes, but still would 
demand the mind of a connoisseur in the writer as 
well as the reader. Many of the palaces here pre- 
sent fine fronts, ornamental to the streets and squares 
on which they are situated. Porticos, and even 
columns, are very uncommon ; but pilasters are fre- 
quent, though some of the largest palaces show 
long extended walls, broken only by ranges of win- 
dows. The appearance of the Borghese Palace is 
decidedly heavy, but the impression is immediately 
superseded on entering the door, and walking through 
a portico lined with antique busts, statues, cinerary 
urns, &c. and looking out upon the court yard and 
garden. 

We were soon introduced into a suite of twelve 
apartments which form the gallery; and here we had 
a view of one of the finest collection of pictures in the 
whole city. Like most others here, this gallery is open 
to all, access being granted immediately, and nothing 
being expected from visiters except a trifling gratuity 
to the keeper. We found several artists, male and 



248 



ROME. 



female, natives and foreigners, employed in copying 
different pictures ; and the fact that this is a privilege ' 
they may enjoy, with but fevi^ exceptions, at any other 
palace, is sufficient to show the estimation in which the 
Romans hold the fine arts, and the encouragement 
which is extended to them. The artists usually 
seemed unconscious of our presence, nor turned as 
we passed them, but kept their eyes intently fixed 
upon the fine pieces before them, enjoying with 
tutored taste those master-touches, which, like a sin- 
cere and friendly heart, familiar acquaintance only ren- 
ders the more lovely. In my own mind however, though 
Fuch a thing is painful to declare, there seemed, on our 
leaving the palace, hardly anything but a confusion of 
names and objects : Aminibale Caracci, Donnichino, 
Giovannino, una Madonna, Pietro di Cortona, altra 
Madonna ; cupids, nymphs and landscapes ; dying 
gladiators and holy families ; frescoes, stuccoes and 
arabesques ; Venus and Adonis, Jupiters, Junos and 
Roman saints; the Trojan wars, herds of cattle, and 
portraits of popes. 

It is a very fortunate thing for the world, that custom 
demands from the great such an appearance of love for 
the arts as is displayed at the Borghese palace; for 
otherwise, it is to be feared, this and many other 
splendid collections would never have been made. 
The wealthy owner is not an inhabitant of Rome, nor 
of Naples, nor of several other cities where he pos- 
sesses princely edifices like this ; but he spends most of 
his time at Florence, in training and displaying his 
dogs and horses, while his wife, the Princess Paulina, 
sister of Napoleon, occupies some of them at dif- 
ferent seasons, particularly a beautiful villa just 
out of the city, in company with that discredit 
which even in Italy is inseparable from her cha- 



I 



ROME. 249 

racter. Towards this place, the Villa Borghese, we 
next directed our course, being partly decided in our 
determination of visiting it to-day by the knowledge 
of its being occupied at present only by domestics. 

Our way lay through the Corso and the Gate of the 
People, then along under the city wall about a mile, on 
the road to Florence. On the left, the country showed 
a succession of hills and vallies, of the same swelling 
form and moderate size, as those in Rome ; and though 
the surface was nearly covered with vineyards, and 
thinly sprinkled with cottages, old masses of brick- 
work and masonry rose here and there, to mark Ihe 
situation of many an ancient villa; and in some places 
were seen a few clumps of bushes, where the dilapida- 
tion of nameless edifices had totally ruined the soil. 
The weather was mild and calm, and the sun shone 
out unclouded ; but there was a counteracting power 
in the air which slightly tempered its rays, and inter- 
posed to soften every discordant hue in this melancholy 
landscape. Like the first of those serene, sunny days, 
which in our own climate appear on the verge of win- 
ter, the morning seemed a pledge of the speedy return 
of spring; but there was none of that bounding hilarity 
which is associated in our minds with the swelling of 
the buds, the flowing of the brooks released from their 
cold prisons, and the first notes of the blue-birds : there 
was no joy in anticipation, while the melancholy ruins 
so pressed upon our view and upon our very path, to 
remind us of the disappointment of splendid hopes — to 
tell us how the glory of Rome had departed. Here, even 
the name of liberty has long been lost in the slavery 
of superstition; and the divine and ennobling traits of 
Christianity have been superseded by the debasing 
doctrines of this world, and all the abuses of the papal 
policy. But there is a country where both Christianity 



250 ROME. 

and civil liberty are yet enjoyed, with many attendant 
blessings never known before ; and fortunately that 
country is our own. 

But we had already arrived at the Borghese Villa, 
and were approaching the Casino, or little palace, along 
a winding path frequently overshadowed by ever- 
greens and ornamented with statues both ancient and 
modern. The grounds are undulating, and about three 
miles in circuit, beautifully diversified with woods and 
lawns, where a few deer are seen, and abounding with 
many monuments of the taste of its previous possessors. 
There is a little temple of Diana, and one of iEsculapius, 
a lake, an aqueduct, and several fountains. Unfrequent- 
ed paths lead off to different parts of the grounds, and 
are so tastefully decorated, that almost every turn intro- 
duced us to something agreeable and unexpected. In^ 
deed, the succession of busts and vases, fountains spout- 
ing from the mouths of animals, gloomy shades whitened 
with ancient mutilated statues, and open spots affording 
glimpses of a distant landscape — each came up to view 
like a new page in some engaging author, leading the 
mind from one train of thought to another without any 
exertion of its own. But the most impressive sight of 
all, and indeed one that had much of majesty in it, was 
the portico of an ancient temple, deeply wounded by 
the hand of time and the storms of many a barbarous 
age, but still retaining a half-obliterated inscription, 
and wearing in its stature and its frown the air of un- 
questionable nobility. These tall pillars, and their 
ponderous frieze, had probably been transported from 
some distant ruins, but at a little distance they seemed 
to mark the site of some ancient temple of great mag^ 
nificence; and while we rambled about these delight- 
iul grounds, enjoying the warmth and serenity of the 
weather, they suddenly made their appearance from 



ROME. 251 

lime to time, to call the mind to sublime ideas of the 
period which produced them, and of the ages that have 
since come and passed away. 

The size of the Casino is too small to produce any 
great impression ; but it is richly decorated internally, 
with the usual, nay, inseparable furniture of such edifi- 
ces in this part of the world ; and as this is intended to 
serve as a specimen of Roman villas, it may be proper 
to mention by name the principal objects pointed out 
by the keeper, and recorded in our book. A broad 
stair-case conducts to the door, which opens into a 
portico, succeeded by a saloon, which has a vaulted 
roof painted in fresco, with the battle between Furius 
Camillus and the Gauls, and contains a relievo in 
marble of Quintus Curtius on horse-back, precipitating 
himself into the chasm in the Forum. The first cham- 
ber has a painting on the roof of the Judgment of Paris, 
and an admired statue by Bernini, of David fitting a 
stone to his sling; the second, a painted roof; the 
third, three groups, one of which is Bernini's Apollo 
pursuing Daphne, four marble vases covered with bas- 
reliefs, and several pictures; and then succeed too 
many pictures in the remaining apartments to be par- 
ticularized. There is a large collection of portraits by 
Scipio Gaetano and Padovanino, of the most beautiful 
Roman ladies of their time, and there are several works 
by English artists : but the objects best calculated to 
fix the attention of an unlearned observer, are perhaps 
the boy picking a thorn from his foot, whose attitude 
is so strikingly natural, that the first impulse on seeing 
it is to pause and stop breathing, for fear of agitating 
his careful fingers, although it is at the opposite end of 
a long hall; and the beautiful group of Apollo and 
Daphne, the marble of which is so full of life, so running 
over with motion, that it seems as if the fire of Prome- 



252 ROME. 

theus had just been applied, and we expected to se^ 
the statues spring from the pedestal and disappear in an 
instant. How can anyone define the pleasure communi-i^ 
cated bjsuch a specimen of art? I have seen a spectator 
perform a circuit round the pedestal again and again, 
then stand gazing on it, and wringing his hands with 
delight; then almost laugh aloud, and seek another and 
another point of view, to revive once more the agreea- 
ble delusions. 

Re-entering the city and deviating to the right, we 
took a tedious and disagreeable walk through some of 
those crowded and dirty streets near the Tiber, in a 
part of the ancient Campus Martins, and still in the 
northern quarter of Rome. Here are the niiserabl^ 
remains of the once magnificent tomb of Augustus, 
which was erected by himself while consul the second 
time, and ornamented in a manner corresponding with 
the taste of his days. The vaults below were divided 
by three corridors, and sub-divided into small com- 
partments for single coffins. Its form was that of a 
cone, which is said to have been about 190 Eng- 
lish feet high, and surmounted by a bronze statue of 
Augustus. It was cased with white marble, and en- 
veloped with the shade of various plants ranged 
around it on terraces. Two obelisks were placed on 
each side of the entrance, and near at hand was a 
building for preparing the bodies for the tomb by 
burning. Here then were once deposited the ashes 
of Augustus, Agrippa, Livia, Octavia, Marcellus, Ger- 
manicus, Drusus, and many others; but nothing now 
remains except an old broken circular wall. The or- 
naments which had not been destroyed are removed, 
the spot is shut in by modern walls and buildings, and 
as if to cast the deepest reproach on modern times, the 
jjlace has been converted into an amphitheatre fot 



R0ME. 253 

bull-fights, and the vaults are used as a cellar for coal. 
We had to wander about a long time before we could 
discover the ruins, and several times followed short 
lanes and blind allies terminating suddenly at the river. 
The banks are formed in this part of its course by the 
foundations of houses, many of them ancient, which 
serve to show that the river has for many ages preser\ ed 
its course. In some places we noticed remains of ex- 
tensive walls of the close-grained, thin old bricks^ 
which probably were built to support some of the 
splendid edifices with which the river was ornamented 
in the days of the early emperors ; and here and there 
on a patch of grass, or in a small kitchen garden, were 
fragments of marble and granite columns peeping 
through the surface. A little below was the bridge of 
St. Angelo, and the castle of the same name, the fcita- 
del of Rome, whose principnl strength is in a large cir- 
cular fort, formerly the tomb of the emperor Hadrian. 
About a half a mile beyond, and near the north-western 
corner of the city was seen the immense dome of St. 
Peter's, and the palace of the Vatican. 

From this place, on our way southerly towards the 
Capitoline hill, we stopped at the Pantheon, whicih 
is also in the Campus Martins amor^g closely built 
streets ; and a walk of about half a mile still towards the 
south, brought us to the Capitoline hill, near the base 
of which and towards its eastern side, we discovered, 
with the aid of our book, the remains of a tomb which 
have given rise to much perplexity among the antiqua- 
ries. All that now exists of it, is a wall built of large 
blocks of travertine, ornamented with four pilasters and 
a cornice, and an ancient inscription on the foundation, 
which declares it to have been a tomb erected by the 
senate and people, for the iEdileC. Publicius Bibulus 
and his family. Some have supposed that it was erect- 



254 KOME. 

ed within the walls of the city, on account of some im- 
portant service rendered to the country ; while others 
have cited against them the well known customs of the 
ancients, who always buried their dead without their 
cities, and asserted that this monument clearly pointed 
out the spot where the wall of Servius ran, and the sit* 
nation of an ancient street. This opinion attributes 
to the ruin a high antiquity, whether justly or not I 
cannot pretend to determine. Its present condition is 
however such as to claim a moment's attention ; for it 
forms one of the walls of a wretched house, and a hole 
has been knocked through and grated with iron, to 
admit a little light, and nothing was wanting to make a 
good caricature of modern Rome, but two or three 
children of the nameless plebeian family within, to 
peep out, and wave their rags over that memorial of 
better days: "C. Publicio L. F. Bibulo ded. Pl. ho- 

NQRIS VIRTU TISqUE CAUSSA SENATUS CONSULTQ," &C SlC, 

While we were lingering at this place, some men 
passed near us with a hearse, which they set down 
before a neighbouring door. Ft was ornamented with 
bits of gilt wood carved in quaint figures, but so old 
and worn, that it appeared to have been long in com- 
mon use. From the downcast looks of persons who 
began to assemble, it was evident that preparations 
were making for a funeral. 

Near one corner of the Forum of Trajan, we obser- 
ved one of the Pope's proclamations posted against 
a house, whicli several persons had assembled to read. 
From their frequent scowls, and the side-long glan- 
cing of some of their black eyes, it was apparent that 
the political pusillanimity of their spiritual governor 
did not well accord with their feelings. 

It was now late dusk ; and returning near the tomb of 
Bibulus we found the funeral procession was forming , 



ROME. 255 

at the neighbouring house, arid ready to set out for 
the church. About forty monks were on the spot, 
habited in their large frocks, and a number of friars 
enveloped in loose white garments, with tall conical 
caps, drawn far down over their faces and breasts, so 
as to conceal the features, being open only at the 
eyes, that the wearer might see his way. These were 
all assembled near the door of the house of affliction; 
but being all official attendants, little was to be ex- 
pected in their behaviour beyond the bare forms of 
propriety. Some therefore seemed impatient at the 
delay, and many remarks were heard little suited to 
the occasion, particularly from the legion in white 
robes, who had the supple motions and tart replies 
of young men, and seemed to enjoy a little suppres- 
sed amusement in receiving and lighting the long wax 
candles, which were distributed to them just before 
setting out, as well as in extinguishing some of them, as 
if by accident, before they had proceeded many steps 
from the door — the candle ends, as we understood, be- 
ing one of their perquisites. The hearse followed this 
procession at a slow pace, while the monks at intervals 
joined in a loud religious chorus, which, at a distance, 
produced a very solemn effect, ringing loud through 
the silent streets, though the indifference expressed 
by their countenances, when near enough to be seen, 
was quite on the contrary extreme. Formality will 
always betray itself in such circumstances; and if in 
our large cities we too frequently observe the same 
indifference manifested by distant acquaintances and 
strangers, it is not surprising among those whose feel- 
ings are still less concerned. 

Mr. A. a young Roman of our family, is a volunteer 
in the pope's body guard, and has to attend a parade 
at the Vatican once or twice a week. He informs us 



256 i^OME. 

that he has a right to his dress, rations, and two or 
three cents a day, but, like his comrades, has received 
little or nothing; and that the government are still 
more in arrears to the militia, to whom they pretend 
to give clothes, the taxes on bread, and several minor 
privileges, but have not even paid for their clothes 
in four years. 

The English are considered by the Romans as the 
introducers of high prices into this country. To 
them it is said to be owing, that the expenses of tra-, 
veiling have increased to an astonishing degree, since 
the termination of the late continental wars; and that, 
not so much by the simple occupation, use, and con- 
sumption of the conveniences and luxuries of the 
country, as by the manner in which they squander 
their money, rather than spend it. Whether a deeply 
calculating statesman might not be able to account 
for this increase of prices on a more political view of 
the case, I cannot uiidertake to determine, for men of 
that character often arrive at conclusions on such sub- 
jects which could never have been anticipated ; yet 
the blame is to some extent laid where it is due. For 
these foreigners so much complained of, proceed from 
a country where the value of money is immensely 
reduced by the heavy taxes to be bought with every 
article of life ; and when they arrive where such taxes 
do not exist, they are delighted to find every shilling 
in their pockets turning into a crown, and are ready 
to thank the innkeepers and servants for the change, 
while their extortion alone prevents then) from making 
^' the crown a pound !" The operation of such things 
in the long run is, to put the stranger in the best state 
of mind imaginable for being fleeced, and at the same 
time to train up a large part of the native population in 
those impatient and extortionate habits so complajnecl 



ROME. 257 

of by their civil and economical countrymen. Thus, 
while we sympathise with the few travelling Italians, 
in the numerous and vexatious evils, lately sprung up 
in their paths, (they had mules and robbers before,) 
we must participate in the ecstasies, and excuse the 
errors of their unfortunate, or fortunate injurers, and 
regard them as we do those late adventurers in the 
Frozen ocean, who always smiled when the mer- 
cury began to rise toward zero, and when the icicles 
fell from their chins, threw off' their furs, and called it 
a delightful climate. 

February 11. We left the city to-day by the Ap- 
pian gate, to visit several places, particularly recom- 
mended to our attention. This gate, although built 
over the Appian Way, is not the Capena gate of 
Appius Claudius, but was the work of Aurelian, and 
about a mile farther removed from the Forum. The 
ground is uneven for a mile or more after passing the 
gate, and the road is so much shut in by walls and a 
few buildings, as to exclude every distant object. There 
are several ruinous tombs of different descriptions on 
both sides, one of which is regarded with peculiar inte- 
rest on account of the name it has received, notwith- 
standing the uncertainty which is acknowledged to 
hang over it. It is called the tomb of Horatia, the 
sister of the Horatii, who was slain by her surviving 
brother a little without the Capena gate, for regretting 
the death of her lover, one of the Curiatii. On the 
right was the tomb of the freedmen and slaves of Livia 
Augusta, and the church of St. Sebastian ; and in the 
middV-^ of the road the little church of St. Mary of 
the Palms, or Domine quo radis, whence a priest came 
out to meet us on our approach, and urged us to 
enter ; but intending to visit him at another time, we 
passed on for some distance, with a more unobstructed 

33 



258 ROME.— eARACALLA»S CIRCUS. 

view over the neighbouring fields and vineyards, till 
the immense tomb of Cecilia Metella appeared before 
us on the top of a. long, gentle hill, corresponding to 
the declivity we were descending. It stands at one 
corner of a battlemented wall, which encloses an 
acre or two of ground and a part of the Appian Way, 
This was the castle of «ome petty chieftain in the 
dark ages, whose citadel was the tomb itself; and the 
ancient structure forms as striking a contrast with the 
modern enclosure for solidity as for beauty. Its cir- 
cular wall is a solid construction, twenty-five or thirty 
feet thick, containing a chamber of about the same 
diameter ; and it is cased externally with large blocks 
of marble. A Neapolitan, returning home on horse- 
back, here inquired of us whether the Austrians were 
Coming, as he could not learn in Rome. 

From this elevated ground we could overlook the 
road we had come, for a considerable distance, and 
discovered the ruins of the temples of Wisdom and 
Fame, almost back to the city wall. More immedi- 
ately under our view in the valley below, were the 
well-defined remains of Caracalla's Circus, to which 
we descended, without any obstacle or inconvenience^ 
across the intervening fields. Its form was readily dis^ 
tinguishable : a large oblong, surrounded by a low 
wall, with an arched gateway at the eastern end, and 
at the western, two dilapidated towers; while nearer 
the road we saw some inexplicable heaps of brick 
work, which some suppose to have served as stables 
for the horses of spectators, and some the guard-houses 
of the Praetorian soldiers. 

Three sides of this circus were furnished with ten i 
rows of seats, supported by an arched portico be^ 
neath which furnished a free passage under them, 
opening upon the exterior by large doors, and by 



ROME.— CARACALLA»S CIRCUS. 



259 



short stair-cases to the places for spectators. The 
enclosed arena was devoted to chariot races, the 
towers at one end to the judges, charioteers, and 
other privileged persons, and the gate opposite was 
for the passage of the conquerors. The seats must 
have been capable of containing thirty thousand spec- 
tators, and the arena is not less than fourteen hundred 
and ninety-two feet long, and two hundred and thirty- 
eight broad. The work is referred to Caracalla on 
no direct evidence, but because its architecture agrees 
with other specimens of his time, and its form cor- 
responds with that of a circus represented on some 
of his coins. Thus spoke our book, and indeed 
the most hasty examination was sufficient to refer the 
masonry to those sumptuous but foreboding days, when 
the mighty sceptre of Rome was wielded by the single 
hands of her most ambitious sons, and when the im- 
mense treasures extorted from the provinces were 
lavished at their bidding on palaces and baths, thea- 
tres, aqueducts and temples, according to the im- 
pulse of their changing fancies. These walls were a 
rude mixture of bricks and stones of all sorts, fre- 
quently mingled with bits of earthen ; and in many 
instances, the remains of the vaulted roof of the por- 
tico and its adjoining passages, were turned, and 
even locked with the hollow fragments of jars — thus 
bringing to a severe trial the resisting powers of the 
arch, which experience, however, has thus fully attest- 
ed. The preservation of these walls must be owing, in a 
good degree, to the excellence of the cement used in 
their construction ; for in many places pieces of yel- 
low volcanic stones had decayed and disappeared, 
leaving a cellular mass, like honey-comb, of the impe- 
rishable mortar. 

The two goals which marked the extremities of the 
course, were still indicated by little mounds, connected 



^gO ROME— FOUNTAIN OF EGERlA. 

by a low bank, under which is a little ruinous chamber^ 
supposed to have been the deposit for the sacred 
things used in religious ceremonies, which always pre* 
ceded the pubhc games. 

The Fountain of Egeria was the next object of our 
search; and in walking the length of the arena we had 
an opportunity to examine different parts of the build- 
ing in a most satisfactory manner, and stopped under 
the Triumphal Arch^ — a place now very cheaply 
gained, since there are no competitors. The surface 
was as smooth and unobstructed as if it had been 
cleared for the games, and we involuntarily looked on 
the close turf for the tracks of the chariot wheels^ 
though not a living creature was in sight except a 
poor old man, who had strayed into the enclosure with 
a knife and basket to dig roots. 

At a short distance we found a little solitary temple 
of Bacchus, since consecrated as a church of St. 
Urbino, which is now deserted in its turn. It is built 
entirely of bricks, even to the pilasters and frieze^ 
these being formed by projecting sides and corners. In 
a long, gentle valley below we w^ere to look for the 
Fountain of Egeria ; but were quite dissatisfied at 
finding nothing more like a grotto than an old cellar 
dug into the hill, and divided into a number of dark 
and dreary apartments by walls of the living rocks, 
but v/ithout any signs of water — and in another place 
a hole so small and obstructed with bushes that we 
could hardly creep in. There was water indeed, but 
it ran so humbly through the grass, and tasted so much 
like a nameless spring, that we could not think it 
worthy of our notice, and certainly not fit to be pro-' 
claimed to the world as the chosen, fountain of a ' 
classic nymph. 

A few bits of white marble shining at the bottom of 
the little basin, showed how the land still loves to dis- 



ROME— AN IMPROVISATORE. 261 

piay even the humblest evidence of its former glory; 
and in some places we passed over, the surface was 
thickly strewn for acres with fragments of bricks, red 
earthen ware, and marbles of different colours : suffi- 
cient proof that it was once covered with population, 
although the place is about two miles from Rome, at a 
distance from any road, uninhabited, uncultivated, 
and used at best only as an occasional pasture. 

This evening our Roman friend brought to our 
lodgings an improvisatore, and thus afforded us an 
opportunity we much desired of hearing a specimen 
of the extemporaneous poetry for which some parts of 
Italy have long been celebrated. An amateur was at the 
same time introduced with his guitar, and our party 
was soon afterwards enlarged by our host and hostess, 
(a plain Roman couple,) one of their female friends, the 
poet's father, and two large family dogs ; when, accord- 
ing to the fashion of our country, we gave them a warm 
welcome by heaping wood upon the fire till the chim- 
ney roared. 

The following brief account of the poet's life, which 
we received from our friend in a low voice, was cal- 
culated to interest our feelings for him. Five years 
ago he lost his wife, to whom he was most tenderly 
attached; and this misfortune produced such an effect 
on his mind that he was deprived of his reason for a 
long time, and on his partial restoration to health 
remained so sick of the world that he determined to 
devote himself to a life of monastic seclusion. His 
spirits however are now quite restored, and he has 
been for some time pursuing a course of study to pre- 
pare himself for the practice of medicine. Though pos- 
sessed of a very considerable talent for extempora- 
neous poetry, he has never attempted even a rhyme 
©n paper. He meets a select party of friends one or 



262 ROME.— AN IMPROVISATORE. 

two evenings in the week, where, under the excite- 
ment of a little instrumental music, generally the 
guitar, he produces at the moment long poetic com- 
positions, which his hearers speak of in enthusiastic 
terms. He is thought to excel in apostrophes, parti- 
cularly when he addresses the *^ shade of his wife;" — 
a singular subject, we should think in America, for the 
display of poetical brilliancy ; but, perhaps on account 
of some traditionary notions derived from antiquity, 
our visiters expressed their approbation of his per- 
formances on such occasions, and evidently perceived 
no impropriety in addressing the manes of departed 
friends. 

He has not yet relinquished the religious dress, but 
appeared before us in the long, broad-skirted black 
coat and three-cornered hat of an abbe. His a^e is 
only hve and twenty, and he has a high forehead, long 
hair, large deep-blue eyes, and a countenance expres- 
sive of a most warm and affectionate disposition. 
When he became animated and moved before us, we 
occasionally caught lines and proportions in his fine 
head, and flashes in his eyes well accordant with the 
character he claims:— that of an enthusiastic lover of 
music, capable of being excited by its influence to un- 
premeditated strains of poetry. 

He requested the company to select for him a 
theme, and was soon supplied with " The death of 
Lucretia, and the expulsion of the Tarquins." The 
poet immediately began to walk before the fire ab- 
stractedly, while we so arranged our chairs as to afford 
him a free passage across the room; and while he was^ 
losing himself in the contemplation of his subject, his 
eye gazed on something Ix^yond the walls of the 
chamber, and he gradually became insensible to the 
objects around him. While his vivid fancy was taking 



ROME.-AN IMPROVISATORE. 263 

a hasty glance at the scenes suggested by his theme, his 
voice of its own accord took up a new but correspond- 
ing strain, while the musician, gazing steadily on his 
face, seemed to participate in his rising enthusiasm, and 
eagerly caught the notes upon his strings. In a moment 
the voice, the guitar and the verse all conjoined, and the 
recitation began on a mild, melodious key. By degrees 
the lines grew more forcible as he described the 
citizens assembling in crowds at the Forum, their dis- 
content, their murmurs, and their clamorous shouts; 
and with the irresistible power of a poet he hurried 
our feelings along with his, and excited our indigna- 
tion against the tyrant, while he personated the father 
of Lucretia, and raising above his head the bloody 
weapon which had killed his daughter, made an im- 
passioned address to the assembly. The Tarquins 
were expelled, among the tumultuous disorder of an 
enraged populace ; and a period of peace and happi- 
ness succeeded, which was beautifully described in 
smooth verse, with the oft-recurring liquid sounds of 
the Italian language, while the music gradually sunk 
again to the sweet and simple air with which the 
amiable enthusiast had begun his unpremeditated 
lay. 

Our visiters were all delighted with this exertion of 
poetical talent; and if we might judge from their pro- 
found attention and the spirit with which they occa- 
sionally joined in the cries of " bravo ! bravissimo !" 
were well instructed in the history of ancient Rome, 
although in the exterior of most of them there was 
small promise of literature or romance. The young 
poet himself, with an ingenuousness which did but 
enhance the value of his accomplishments, while sipr 
ping a little wine we had procured from one of the 
best vineyards on the seven hills, entered warmly into 



2^4 ROME.— AN IMPROVISATORE. 

the praise of two extemporaneous singers, who we 
understand are the only ones except himself at pre- 
sent known in the city. He clearly allowed them 
talents superior to his own, and even applied to 
one of them the extravagant title of ^^ the god of im- 
provisatori." 

The next subject proposed was " the discovery of 
America, and its consequences ;" but here we were 
chagrined to find that he was childishly ignorant of 
our history, and formed the blindest jumble imagina- 
ble of North and South America, calling us both 
the children of freedom and the sons of Spain. He 
had read something of Cortes and Pizarro, but had 
never heard I presume of the landing at Plymouth, 
which is of prime importance to us. After taking us 
on a boisterous voyage across the Atlantic with 
Columbus, and making several unsuccessful attempts 
to induce the goddess of Liberty to remain in a coun- 
try of which he had no idea ; and after a meagre tribute 
of praise to Washington, under the familiar appellation 
of " n Giorgio" [George,] he was obliged to renounce 
the undertaking; and ended with an ingenious apology 
to the Americans present, for his ignorance of that 
country in which the genius of Old Rome had found a 
refuge, also expressing a wish that poets might arise 
more worthy to sing its praises. 

After this he sung '^ the love of Cupid and Psyche;" 
and last "the love of Armida and Rinaldo." My very 
limited acquaintance with the language of the country, 
prevented in a great degree my enjoyment of this ex- 
hibition, yet there were many points in which no one 
could fail to feel interested. Such was his concluding 
strain, which, one of our female visiters declared in a 
low voice, was addressed to the shade of his wife. The • 
utmost silence prevailed in the room ; and the poet. 



ROME— TlVOLl. 265 

forgetful of our applause, and even of our presence, 
gave himself up to the impulse of his warm feelings, 
and poured out from his heart a current of tender 
recollections, mingled with bright hopes of a future 
world ; while his voice assumed an unaffected earnest- 
ness, and a bright glistening denoted a rising tear, 
which appeared to claim alliance with those that 
had already appeared in the honest eyes of our old 
hostess. 

TivoLi, February 12. — The weather still continued 
fine ; and at an early hour this morning, having bid 
adieu to our English friend P. who is going to Florence, 
we passed out at the gate of St. Lorenzo, which is the 
ancient Prenestine gate, near the south-eastern corner 
of the city, and took the road towards Tivoli. We were 
on foot, although the distance is about eighteen Eng- 
lish miles, for there were several objects to be seen by 
deviating from the road, which are inaccessible in a 
carriage. The vineyards continued for a mile or more 
before we entered the unenclosed and uninhabited 
waste of the Campagna, the breadth of which we were 
to traverse before we could reach the mountains where 
this town is situated. On our left we passed the church 
of St. Lorenzo without the walls, founded by Constan- 
tine, on the spot where that saint was buried, with many 
other of the early Christians, by Saint Ciriaca, a Roman 
matron, in her own ground. It now boasts many splen- 
did ornaments, having been restored, rebuilt and de- 
corated by numerous cardinals and popes, who in the 
very act of paying honour to the spot, have shown how 
much they had forgotten the humble virtues, which 
form the only greatness of the Christian character, and 
by the imitation of which alone its friends and martyri? 
can be honoured^ 



34 



266 ROME.— TIVOLI. 

The walls by the road side were built partly of yel- 
low stones, of a decidedly volcanic appearance; and 
even before we had got more than a mile from the city 
gate, we perceived a thick stratum of rock of the same 
description, which had been cut through in ancient 
times, for the passage of the Tiburtine way, of which 
many parts of the pavement remain, and many loose 
stones are built into the walls. In one place men had 
lately been at work to widen it ; here the rock was so 
soft as to be easily cut and scraped away,lea ving a pretty 
high wall, which will doubtless grow very hard by ex- 
posure. This sight immediately brought to mind the 
lofty terraces, or hanging gardens, of Naples and Posi- 
lipo; and satisfactorily explained the manner in which 
these huge rocky precipices have been formed, as well 
as the digging of the grottos of Pozzuoli and Baia; for 
beside the similar aspect of the rocks, I recollected 
having noticed in the vicinity of Naples, the marks of 
tools used in smoothing the surfaces, which compared 
with those made here yesterday, and the same sweeping 
lines, which had before made me suspect that the rocks 
must have been formerly much softer than at present. 

A walk of about three miles brought us to the river 
Teverone, formerly Anio, which we crossed on the 
Ponte Mammolo, a bridge of unknown antiquity, built 
of heavy blocks of white stone, and deeply worn by the 
elements. Here we met a drove of about a hundred 
large grey cattle going to Rome. They are pastured 
on the Campagna, where they acquire a savage wild- 
ness, that renders it very difficult to manage them. 
They are easily driven in a body, but when one gets 
separatedfrom the rest, it becomes almost furious. They 
had stopped suddenly at the bridge, and were moving 
quickly round and round in a solid circle, from mere 
restlessness and insubordination. 



ROME.-TIVOLI. 267 

No enclosures or signs of cultivation appeared over 
the undulating ground before us, except now and then 
the little conical hut and pinfold of a wandering, soli- 
tary shepherd, and the casini, or extensive stables and 
store-houses of a great proprietor, six or eight miles 
apart. Though our course lay over several considera- 
ble elevations, from which the view was almost un- 
bounded, no other objects appeared over the useless 
waste except some nameless Roman ruin, the blacken- 
ed walls and towers of a Gothic fortress, or a single 
shepherd clad in skins, at a far remove from the luxu- 
ries and trials of the world, silently seated near the 
ancient dwelling-place, or the tomb, of some long for- 
gotten Roman, in the midst of a society the most harm- 
less and faithful on earth — his watch-dog, and a little 
flock of sheep. 

In the midst of the Campagna is a post-house ; and, 
about three miles farther, the Lake of Tartarus. The 
approach to this singular pond, which is some distance 
from the road, is sufficiently indicated by a stratum of 
white porous stone, called Tufa, lying an inch or two 
under the turf Farther on, it begins to appear above 
ground; and for the distance of a quarter of a mile 
from the pond, completely covers the surface, and 
offers scarcely a particle of soil for the nourishment of 
plants. The lake which, from these appearances, must 
formerly have covered a surface two or three miles 
square, has now reduced itself to such narrow limits, 
that its circumference probably does not exceed a 
quarter of a mile. The springs by which its waters 
are supplied rise from the bottom, so highly charged 
with lime in solution, that evaporation causes it to be 
deposited along the shores, and thus the plants which 
abound at the margin, are all covered with a thin 
crust. When the plants die, this hard casing still pre- 



268 HOME— TIVOLI. 

serves their forms ; and, as the deposition is continued, 
the place which a few weeks ago was marked by a 
tuft of green reeds, shows a cluster of bristling spires, 
as white and lifeless as icicles, and in a short time lon- 
ger will be occupied by a hard and durable rock, on 
which you may stand and observe the same process 
going on all around, and making its slow but certain 
encroachments upon the contracted territory of the 
little lake. The water is whitish and turbid, with an 
odour of sulphur; the shores for a great extent are 
dreary, and as white as if partly covered with snow, 
being destitute of trees, with the exception of a few on 
a little promontory on the right; and the only animals 
we saw, were two or three ducks near the opposite 
shore. 

A mile beyond the road crossed a swift brook of 
a peculiar bluish coloured water, from which arose a 
strong sulphurous smell, perceptible at a considerable 
distance. Tracing it up we came to a broken tract of 
ground, where a branch of the stream left its bed, and 
after tearing a deep channel through the soil, and lay- 
ing open a great mass of porous lime-stone rock below, 
evidently of the same formation we had lately been 
examining, soon disappeared at a chasm itself had 
worn. A walk of fifteen minutes, over a perfect level 
half covered with clusters of alders, brought us to the 
Lake of a thousand Islands, the appearance of which 
quite disappointed the romantic expectations we had 
founded on its name. It is indeed the same lake where 
was formerly a temple to Faunus, and whither king La- 
tinus is represented by Virgil, as betaking himself to ask 
advice of the god concerning the marriage of his daugh- 
ter Lavinia with Turnus; but like the other lake we 
had just visited, its size has been continually decreasing 
since that time, though from a cause entirely different. 



ROME.— TIVOLI. 269 

The water rises in one place near the margin with a 
violent ebullition, and in addition to its sulphurous 
exhalations, throws up a kind of gelatinous matter, 
which remains upon the surface, receiving and nourish- 
ing the seeds of plants which are driven upon it by the 
wind, and frequently forms little floating islands, which 
change their places until they become fastened to the 
banks by a similar process, and gradually encroach 
upon the pond. In former times it might have pre- 
sented a very romantic sight, when its size was great, 
as it probably was ever changing its form and aspect; 
but it is now reduced within a circumference of about 
two hundred feet, and, when we visited it, had not a 
single island. We found one spot, however, where a 
piece had lately been added to the shore, about six 
feet broad, and twenty long, which was sufficiently 
strengthened by a thick mass of green turf to support 
our weight, although it trembled at every step, and 
even at the undulations of the water; for it was close 
by the spot where the agitation was greatest, and where 
it jetted through in many places. The country for a 
great distance around is a dead level, hardly elevated 
at all above the surface of the water, and must owe its 
origin to the curious qualities of this little lake. The 
soil is well covered with grass and shrubs, though from 
the great depth of the water, it would seem impossible 
that the immediate banks can have any solid founda- 
tions, as when a stone is thrown in, (a thing by the way 
very scarce hereabouts,) even if near the margin, the 
surface continues to be agitated for a long time, as if 
by some internal commotion ; and, our books assure us, 
that it requires a line of about 60 feet, to sound it at 
the side, and 160 in the middle. It is natural, however, 
to feel some curiosity to see what lies so far below, for 
it was the custom with those who in ancient times con- 



270 ROME.— TIVOLI. 

suited the guardian spirit of these waters, to cast into 
the lake stones bearing inscriptions, which would cer- 
tainly prove interesting objects at the present day. 

We returned to the road by an oblique course across 
the fields, occasionally perceiving some traces of men 
and cattle, and crossing ledges of porous lime-stone. 
Several times we noticed a channel cut in the hori- 
zontal rock, three or four feet in width, between sides 
hardly two inches high, as if it had been worn by the 
passage of carriages many centuries ago, or formed for 
a water course; but it was so indistinct, occurred at 
such intervals, and ran in so many directions, that it 
was difficult to decide whether it might not have been 
a work of nature. 

The nearest hills on the borders of the mountainous 
region now were plainly visible, prominently advanced 
from the distant obscurity in the form of huge cones 
six or eight hundred feet high, some of them crowned 
with old grey forts and towers, or clustering towns 
almost inaccessible. Behind them appeared Tivoli, 
ranged on the ridge of a lofty hill, and surrounded by 
still loftier elevations which claimed familiarity with the 
clouds. Their sides betrayed the bare, rocky surface 
most common to Italian mountains, covered here and 
there with extensive vineyards and olive grounds, ap- 
parently too abundant for the scanty population. By 
the Ponte Lucano, an ancient bridge, we crossed the 
Aniene, and found ourselves once more among houses 
and cultivated enclosures. This bridge, with the cir- 
cular tomb of the Plauzia family near one end, has 
been too often described to require anything here; 
and indeed it is often difficult for any one in speak- 
ing of Rome, to say too little to please others, or 
enough to satisfy himself The hill which we now 
began to ascend, wherever it had been washed by the 



ROME.— TIVOLL 271 

rain, showed a rock of white limestone, formed of 
large globular and stratified concretions, very curi- 
ously and unaccountably formed. The shortest path 
was a very steep ascent, which we soon after relin- 
quished for a more easy one of three times the length, 
in order to pay a visit to the ruins of Adrian's famous 
Tiburtine Villa, toward which we were directed by 
an honest old man, who was transporting a load of 
iron ore in a single-horse wagon to Tivoli. 

At a corner of the road we were accosted by a little 
boy, who had been lying in wait for strangers, under a 
hedge, and with a mixture of officiousness and civility, 
offered his services as a guide. He led us on about 
a mile, along a green avenue, over which the setting 
sun was throwing some of his latest beams, and at 
length knocked at the high garden gate of a modern 
villa, belonging to Count Fede. At length, being admo- 
nished by the approach of evening, we forced our pass- 
age through a briery hedge, and passed very uncere- 
moniously over 5hady gravel walks and open terraces, 
by the front of the casino, or country house, and ap- 
plied at a little lowly cottage door for the keeper of the 
grounds. He had not returned from the house of a 
neighbour, about two miles distant, and his wife under- 
took to conduct us, who although in the quaint array 
of the peasant women hereabouts, felt herself fully com- 
petent to the task of commenting on those magnificent 
remains. As we were passing through a long avenue 
of ancient trees, she handled some opinions which 
have been expressed concerning different parts of the 
ruins, with as little mercy as if she had been bred in 
a university, and showed a parrot-like familiarity with 
all the long names connected with ihem, which at 
first made us gaze upon her as a literary paragon; 
but she soon betrayed the extent of her erudition, by 



272 ROME.-TIVOLL 

appealing from our objections to the opinion of " mii0 
marito," [my husband,] whom she seemed to regard 
as the highest earthly authority. 

The extent of ground occupied by the Tiburtine 
Villa was no less than ten miles, and the situation was 
selected with taste, being on a gently declining tract 
of ground at the foot of the hills, and at such an ele- 
vation above the campagna as to give it an extensive 
view, and to secure it even now from the unwholesome 
atmosphere of the low grounds. It was the professed 
design of the Emperor Adrian to make it one of the 
wonders of the w^orld ; and with the luxurious extra- 
vagance of his days, he collected from different parts 
of the earth all the specimens of art and the curiosi- 
ties of nature, as well as the most splendid fashions 
in architecture and planning grounds, which could 
be obtained within the empire of Rome. It is said 
that he divided the villa into three parts, under the 
names of Canopus, Paecile and Tempo, in each of 
which respectively were collected its^appropriate edi- 
fices and decorations ; forming the first after the mo- 
del of the temple of Serapis at Canopus in Egypt, 
making a picture gallery of the second like that at 
Athens, and of the third an artificial abode for the 
Muses. Nay, he is even supposed to have gone still 
farther, and to have attempted a representation of the 
infernal regions. 

At the present day how^ever, when the ravages of 
the Goths, and of so many centuries, have left nothing 
but the merest wreck of these structures, it is impos- 
sible to substantiate or to contradict the particulars 
of this account. Still, no one can visit the spot and 
deny that the Tiburtine Villa might have been quite as 
magnificent as it is represented. For here we saw 
the dilapidated walls, the empty apartments, the dark 



ROME.— TIVOLI. 



273 



vaults, and the spacious squares of what would have 
seemed a ruinous town, but of which w'e learned 
from our guide the appellations most commonly ac- 
cepted by antiquaries. Here was the Hippodrome, 
three hundred and twenty-three feet long, and two 
hundred and twenty-one broad, with its arena over- 
grown with olive trees ; the Poecile with a lofty wall 
five hundred and forty feet in length; the Maritime 
Theatre, of a circular form, and adorned with the re- 
mains of sea monsters ; the Palace of the Imperial 
Family ; the Emperor's Palace ; the quarters for sol- 
diers; the extensive baths for men, and others for 
women, arranged on the Grecian plan, with their va- 
rious suites of apartments for cold, warm, and hot 
water bathing, sweating, and anointing. Beside these 
are the Canopus, the Philosophers' dwellings and 
school, the temple of Apollo, that of Diana and Venus, 
the library, and a beautiful fountain. All these ruins are 
so extensive and stupendous, that it is not to be hoped 
any adequate idea of the impression they produce 
can be communicated by this hasty description, or 
rather, enumeration, which I could not prevail upon 
myself to omit, on account of the admiration which 
they excited in me, although they have been so many 
times described befoie. 

Our guide informed us, that the ground was scat- 
tered for a great distance round with many unknown 
ruins, which was rendered extremely probable by the 
appearance of the surface, and particularly of the 
walks of the garden, which might almost be said to 
be gravelled with the fragments of stone, bricks and 
marble. It is by no means improbable that noble speci- 
mens of art may yet be found beneath the surface, for it 
is this place, which, like a quarry of ready sculptured 
stones, has furnished numerous Egyptian cabinets with 

35 



274 ROME.-TIVOLT. 

statues of granite, Roman statues of marble, the most 
beautiful specimen of ancient Mosaic known, and the 
famous vase now at Warwick castle in England. 

But we had yet a long walk before us ; and taking 
a course pointed out by our guide, we hastened back 
to the road, through extensive olive grounds, and over 
a tract much torn up by water from the mountains, 
by a narrow path often cut down six or eight feet, 
probably by long use, which completely shut out our 
view. In ascending a long and most laborious hill, 
we were overtaken by a party of peasants, male and 
female, returning from labour in the fields of the Cam- 
pagna, who had the appearance of health and the 
utmost hilarity, joking and laughing till the hills rang 
all around, though they had to carry their implements 
of husbandry, and some had large bundles of sticks 
upon their heads. The disadvantage of being con- 
fined to the high grounds for dwellings, while the land 
to be cultivated lies at such a distance below, never 
appeared to us in so striking a light ; for, to persons not 
accustomed to it, it is work enough for half the day to 
go to the field and return. The steep side of the moun- 
tain was covered with a grove of olive-trees, each of 
which stands on a terrace supported by a semicircular 
stone wall ; and from some parts of the road we had a 
fi:ne view of the Campagna, on which we could dimly 
retrace a large part of the way we had travelled, the 
Sulphur and Tartarian lakes, shining in the twihght 
like spots of silver, and afar off at the distance of 
eighteen miles, the diminished dome of St. Peter's. 

It was quite dark when we entered Tivoli, and 
inquired the way to the " Albergo delta Sibilla" — 
f* the Sybil's Inn." A young man who had just re- 
turned from a journey, and was on a full walk for 
his father's house, hearing the question cheerfully 



ROME.— TIVOLI. 27^ 

offered to be our guide, although he was going in the 
opposite direction, and led us through many a narrow 
dismal street till we supposed he was as lost as our- 
selves. He at length knocked at the door of a house, 
and when he heard feet approaching bowed and disap- 
peared with " Felice notte !" — " I wish you a happy 
night." The door opened, and an old wrinkled 
woman appeared, with a tall brass lamp in her hand, 
of a most antique form. Perceiving that we were 
strangers, and misapprehending our question, she led 
us through the hall over a floor of earth into a small 
yard, and pausing before a circular range of fluted 
Corinthian columns, evidently the ruins of some 
classic Roman structure, told us it was "the Sybil's 
Temple" — " The Sybil's Temple indeed !" was im- 
mediately echoed, " but where is her Inn ?" A few 
hasty steps transported us all back to the house, 
and up a heavy stone stair-case into the spacious 
dining room, where a cheerful fire was soon kin- 
dled, of Avood and the stalks of Indian corn, and 
a good supper of beefsteaks and coffee was not 
long behind. 

Our hostess, a tall good looking woman, took a seat 
by the fire, to entertain her guests, and to inquire the 
news at Rome, with such a mixture of hospitality, 
intelligence and modesty, as one might look for through 
a window shaded by " morning-glories^'''' near a family 
Bible and among the advantages of common schools; 
though the language she spoke reminded us over and 
over again that there were no such things in Italy^ 
She said her house was usually much resorted to by 
the English ; and this was corroborated by the excel- 
lence of our beefsteaks, [in Italian bisiechi.] During 
the ensuing season however she should have to 
complain of an empty house, because few strangers 



276 KOME.— TIVOLI. 

could be expected at Rome in the present state of 
things. She inquired with solicitude when the Aus- 
trians were expected ; and declared that the Neapoli- 
tans were doing a great deal of mischief to this part 
of the country, partly out of ill will, for they were 
arrant cowards and knew in their hearts that they 
never meant to fight. They were such foolish brag- 
garts that they could not be content to let honest peo- 
ple live by their industry, but must get Italy a bad 
name by their senseless broils, and prevent travellers 
from coming to Rome and Tivoli. This was the train 
of thought suggested by the Neapolitan revolution to 
our hostess of the Sybil's Inn : perhaps if the common 
schools above alluded to existed in Italy, she might have 
taken a different view of the case. 

This house possesses the characteristics of most 
of the inns we have seen : large, ill-furnished apart- 
ments, and tiled or stone floors. The window by 
which my bed-chamber is lighted, resembles such as 
horses look out at in our own country ; without glass 
and closing only with a wooden shutter. Although the 
strange scenes we have witnessed since we enter- 
ed the Mediterranean have been so numerous as to 
clog the memory, the date in my journal this evening 
reminds me that it is only two months since we left 
Gibraltar. 

Being attracted to a tall window in the hall just 
now, by a loud rushing sound without, I opened it 
into a little balcony, which introduced me to a serene 
moonlight night, and a near view of the Sybil's Tem- 
ple. But whence that dashing sound ? A servant 
told me it was the " Gran' Cascata ;" and it proved 
that this classical Httle ruin occupied the brow of a 
fearful precipice, down which the Anio precipitates 
itself, and begins to form those foaming beauties 



ROME.— TIVOLt 277 

for which Tivoli is so celebrated. A high and dark 
mountain was seen rising opposite^ so near at hand as 
to promise all its shade and sublimity to the scene, 
and made us long for the light of the morning to ex- 
plore the deep and narrow vale which lies below. 

Rome. — February 13. We rose at half past six; 
and while breakfast was preparing we found time 
to descend to the Grotto of Neptune, where a stream, 
diverted from the Anio some distance above, after 
flowing through unexplored caverns in the concreted 
limestone, appears at a chasm in the beds of the lofty 
precipice, boiHng tumultuously, and leaps headlong 
into the valley below ; as if fleeing from subterranean 
horrors. The cascade was pouring down in a beau- 
tiful white line directly before us, and seemed to 
descend from the great height in perfect calmness and 
quiet, so much were our senses absorbed by the 
agitating sight and sound of the noisy scene immedi- 
ately beside us. Deep and dark indeed was the 
valley beneath us, and a devious course did the gleam- 
ings of the stream betray, through a bed obstructed 
by broken banks and rude ragged rocks, whose kins- 
men and brothers stood tottering on many a narrow 
ledge around and above us, as if longing, yet dreading, 
to take their destined leap. And we indeed seemed to 
occupy a station no less precarious : for our path was a 
zigzag stair-case cut and built along the face of the 
rock, with desperate projecting angles. It was formed 
by a French officer, who commanded at Tivoli during 
the times of Napoleon ; and every traveller who has 
this opportunity of enjoying the benefit of his gene- 
rous taste, cannot but feel gratitude towards the disin- 
terested individual. I regret that subsequent things 
have driven his name from my memory. The track of 
the French in various parts of the continent is not 



27 a ROME.— TIVOLI. 

unfrequently marked by monuments of taste as well as 
of the improved state of the arts and sciences to which 
they had attained ; and it is unfortunate that we 
have so often to contrast them with the profligacy of 
the troops and the fatal ambition of their great leader. 
That ambition, in spite of the flattering promises he 
held up to the world, and particularly to France, 
made him betray a contempt for truth and all the prin- 
ciples of morality, as dangerous to the minds of men 
as his cannon were to their lives, and as opposed to all 
our x'lmerican ideas of civil institutions as the conduct 
of the present Holy Allies : for expediency was the 
only conscience he acknowledged. 

Our little chubby cicerone, who with all the promp- 
titude of a recruit entering con amore into his profes- 
sion, had kept watch at our door ever since early 
dawn, now informed us that he knew a way by which he 
could lead us down to the valley. Mingled with some 
of the wildest natural features of the scene were 
many attempts at rude embellishment by the hand 
of human labour : for wherever a spot could be found 
along the precipitous banks capable of retaining a 
little earth, vines are planted and trained upon sticks 
and slight frames with a loose cane roof, where they 
enjoy a fine exposure to the sun and a warm shelter 
from the wind. By clambering down the rocks, wind- 
ing among vines, stooping under frames and trelisses, 
and above all taking care to follow the blind path of the 
vinedressers, and not to venture too near the brows of 
the little natural terraces, the way was attained quite 
to the Ponte Lupo, a natural bridge over the bed of 
the stream, composed of rough masses of rock, over- 
spread with a soft carpet of fresh green grass, and in- 
terspersed with knots of wild flowers. An adequate 
description of the scene which presents itself from 



ROME— TIVOLI. 279 

this spot, if such a thing were possible, would be con- 
sidered one of the most precious morsels of composi- 
tion in the world ; but such a number of objects are 
collected, so various, yet so essential, that I think 
every one who has ever preceded me in placing his 
feet there must have felt the propriety of silence on 
such a subject, and almost resolved, as I was ready to 
do, never to attempt a description. 

The broken banks rose to a dizzy height on both 
sides, backed on the left by the mountainous ridge 
spoken of last evening, with its green girdle of olive 
trees and its conical summits of grey stone, beginning 
to glow towards the rising sun ; while the great cas- 
cade was foaming over a precipice in front, and the 
Sybil's temple looking down upon it from above, in all 
the beauty of Corinthian columns on an overhanging 
rock. From the bridge beneath there was a loud roar 
of foaming water, pouring in at the Syren's grotto, as 
the dark entrance is called ; and the devious course 
of the stream might be traced here and there as it 
flowed on, till a turn in the long valley presented the 
side of another rough mountain, on which is supposed to 
have been situated Horace's favourite retreat, and the 
villa of Quinctilius Varus. 

After breakfast, we left the inn with the friendly 
wishes of the family, who had assembled in the lower 
hall to say, " Addio ; buon' viaggio, signori !'^ — [Good 
bye; a pleasant journey, gentlemen] — then putting 
ourselves under the direction of our officious little 
cicerone in blue linen clothes, with an old stick in his 
hand as a sort of baton of office, we passed close by 
the Sybil's temple, into a thick cluster of houses on the 
brink of the great cascade. Here, in crossing the Anio 
by a narrow stone bridge, we had the mortification to 
see the stream turning machinery, and spattering under 



280 BOME.—TIVOLI. 

the red hands of plebeian washerwomen, before it was 
permitted to its bold leap from the precipice, and 
begin its romantic dash through the valley. On reach- 
ing the fine and elevated road which was to conduct us 
along the olive groves, which overhung the valley on 
the opposite side, we were accosted by an old woman, 
who immediately began to extol the merits, both bodily 
and mental, of a poor half-skinned donkey she was 
driving before her, with a bag of sharp stones instead 
of a club: but we could not prevail upon ourselves to 
add our weight to a back already oppressed with such 
a load of woes, and passed on with many a glance 
upon the varying scene, and doubtless treading over 
the sites of many of those ancient villas which deco- 
rated it in ancient times with the splendours of 
art. The city of Tivoli claims a foundation about 
four hundred and sixty years prior to that of Rome, 
and after that important period persevered in main- 
taining her independence for four centuries. Tivoli, 
I take it for granted, is a corruption of its ancient name, 
Tibur : being too much occupied, as well as too indif- 
ferent to take the pains of inquiring. At present this 
city has no modern architectural beauties to set off ^ 
against those spoken of by old Roman writers, except 
the villa d'Este, and a church, which we did not see. 
A walk of about a mile brought us to the place which 
the tradition of the country people fixes upon as the site 
of Horace's villa. Though it has been often doubted 
whether a mere poet, though a great one, could be 
reasonably supposed to possess even a house of his 
own, it is certainly bestowing a very gratifying favour 
upon one's fancy, to shut the ear against such ill-timed 
doubts, and look upon this spot as one of his once 
chosen places for retirement and study: for when we 
consider his love of nature, as formed and fostered on 



ROME.— TIVOLI. 281 

vi scene so beautiful as this, we attribute a far higher 
elevation to his taste ; and such fragments of his verses 
as recur to the memory even of an unlearned traveller, 
however imperfect and unconnected, acquire a new 
vigour, and more of the brilliancy of poetic aspirations. 
The feelings rise to an unusual and delightful tone; 
and we fancy that nothing is wanting save the power of 
expression, to make us all poets. 

" Scriptorum chorus omnis amat nemus, et fugit urbes"-— 
" Satis jam terris nivis, atque dirae" — 

This is a favourable spot to speak of rural enjoy- 
ments, and to forget the bustle of cities : but we can- 
not enter so fully into the feelings of the poet when he 
talks of fire-side enjoyments in Italy, in a climate like 
this, the snow and the frost are never keen enough to 
show in due contrast the comforts and pleasures of the 
family hearth. The domestic attachments of an Italian 
must be fostered in different scenes, and remembered 
among other associations : for what we call a winter 
evening, can never be known in the mildness of this 
climate. 

Passing through a dark grove of olives, and emer- 
ging at an open spot, beyond the extensive ruins 
of Varus's villa, we found the scene unexpectedly 
changed by another turn of the valley, and soon forgot 
the delightful objects we had so lately admired. Far 
below us on the right lay an ancient bridge over the 
Anio, in front of a dark, mountainous hill; and towards 
the left, on a declivity, the well-known ruins of Maece- 
nas's villa, with an hundred cascades pouring down 
into the valley. The sun was just making its appear- 
ance above the opposite hill, where groups of peasants 
could be with difficulty distinguished, climbing up the 
steep road with loaded mules, and the Anio still glided 
on in the shade below ; while as a few little patches of 

36 



282 ftOME.—TIVOLl. 

vineyards, with their frames and straggling fences, ad- 
vanced so far as to furnish a kind of elaborate filla- 
gree work, the strong light touched a rustic bridge 
more in front, and fell broad and full upon the wall of 
the villa of Maecenas. The cascades which poured from 
its foundation, and one which leaped from a dark win- 
dow, were the brightest objects in the whole landscape, 
sparkling in the sun, and flowing down a broken bank 
of grass made green by the spray. 

We observed several small, whitish bricks upon the 
ground, of the most perfect form, and so hard as to 
strike fire with steel. They had been taken from an 
excavation near at hand, from which an ancient statue 
had lately been removed At the old bridge we found 
a piece of a Roman road, which both our book and 
our boy called the Via Consularia; and were met by a 
party of gay young peasants, one of whom, a young man, 
presented me with a copper coin of Trajan which he 
had picked up in a field, and could hardly be prevail- 
ed on to take any thing more current in return : saying, 
that it was useless to him, and that F was a foreigner, 
and must of course want it. Behaviour like this seems 
very surprising to us, and it is to be hoped that it is not 
anomalous, but may betoken a somewhat better state 
of things in places a little removed from the great 
routes of travellers ; although it was opposed by the 
supplications of a well dressed girl, for a little money, 
which however might have been in jest, as her com- 
panions all laughed at her. 

It may easily be imagined that what we had seen 
during our walk had awakened, rather than satisfied 
our curiosity, for among the objects which remained 
unseen, were the ruins of Horace's second villa, and 
his darling Blandusian fountain, which lie at a con- 
siderable distance from the town, and in a different 



ROME.— TIVOLl. 283 

direction. But there were numerous sites and scenes 
yet to be visited in Rome; and we reluctantly turned 
away from Tivoli, and with heavy hearts began to plod 
our way across the desolate Campagna, envying the 
pleasures we might enjoy if permitted to live among 
scenes like those we had lately left, which seemed an 
assemblage of our earliest and brightest fancies, such as 
we had no power to retain in their masterly arrange- 
ment, and which, alas ! were already beginning to fade 
from our memory. 

We found peasants at labour by companies, ip a few 
large, but solitary fields : men and women working in 
long lines, side by side, with spades and hoes, some- 
times under the direction of one who stood idly by, 
with what authority I know not, but certainly with too 
much the air of an overseer of negroes. 

Stopping at the post-house, in the middle of our jour- 
ney, instead of the alacrity and kindness we had met 
with at Tivoli, we were hardly able to get an answer 
to our questions. After waiting a great while at a long 
wooden table in the common room, and gazing at the 
wine casks on one side, some mule harnesses on the 
other, and a hundred little cheeses, made of cows', 
goats', and even sheep's milk, and hanging from poles 
over head, at last some very plain fare was set before 
us, by the innkeeper and his wife, without a word or a 
smile. The bread was coarse and dry, the cheese 
almost impenetrable, and the wine thin and sour. Such 
food, and such company ! There were several persons 
loitering about the great room, and occasionally staring 
at us ; but the only agreeable object in it, was a 
little red cheeked girl, four years old, who leaned 
over the table and smiled in our faces. " To whom does 
this house belong ?" we inquired. " To a monastery 
in the mountains;" replied the inn-keeper, "to which I 
pay a rent of a hundred and forty scudi," [dollars.] 



284 ROME.— TIVOLI. 

This seemed at first very moderate for so spacious a 
building, including the large stables and I suppose as 
large a garden as he pleased, for land was never 
cheaper in Ohio or Florida ; but then though the house 
was large, the chambers were empty, the stables occu- 
pied by only a few post-horses, and Rome was so near 
that nothing but necessity could bring guests here, even 
for a single night. " This rent was always too great 
for me," continued the man, " and this year I shall be 
utterly unable to pay it : for the Austrian army prevent 
foreign^s from coming to Rome, and there are no other 
travellers." "But why do you remain here?" "Be- 
cause I have no other home, and no means of living else- 
where. If I were not sure of starving, I would go to-mor- 
row: for there is a greater evil to be dreaded than the 
demandsofthe brethren of the monastery,and that is the 
malaria." We now began to wonder that we had not be- 
fore particularly remarked that his face was pale and 
sickly, and that all the others, except the child, had glaz- 
ed eyes, and emaciated forms. "1 have the fever," added 
the poor man, "almost the whole year; the season is now 
very near when it always begins, and for several past 
days I have felt a languor and debility spreading 
through my system — the sure and well known signs of 
its approach. Few persons ever lived here a year and 
escaped it. The malaria seizes indifferently on any 
age and we cannot stand against it : it ruins health, de- 
stroys constitutions, takes away courage, removes the 
love of life, and sooner or later life itself" " Poor little 
thing," added the mother, parting the locks of the little 
girl with her hand, " You have got through safe to this 
time, but I tremble for what the coming season may 
do" — and both parents looked anxiously in her face, as 
if to assure themselves that the fatal symptoms had not 
begun to appear. 



ROME. 285 

On reaching our lodgings in Rome, we learnt with 
pleasure that an American gentleman, with his wife, 
had arrived during our absence, and, without know- 
ing any thing more of us than that we were their 
countrymen, had sent us an invitation to call as soon 
as we should return. 

February 14. — I am told that the coin of Trajan I 
brought from Tivoli may perhaps be worth thirty dol- 
lars, and perhaps, only its weight in copper. My Ro- 
man friend has taken it to show to an antiquary, who 
is well acquainted with the subject, and can readily 
give him an answer: for antiques form so large a 
share of the commerce of modern Rome, that the 
prices are proportioned with a triple regard to their 
intrinsic value, their abundance or rarity, and their 
age ; and in cases where the articles are as well defined 
and easily recognised as coins are, their value is regu- 
lated by the constant demand which is made on Rome 
from all the cabinets of Europe, and is as well known 
to buyers and sellers as that of a staple article of 
merchandise in any great sea port. 

During a walk this morning with our new American 
friends, we took a review of the Roman Forum, the 
Colosseum, and other noble scenes and monuments, 
both ancient and modern ; and the pleasure was not 
a little increased by the privilege we enjoyed of ob- 
serving and participating in their first impressions upon 
the mind of an intelligent and amiable countrywoman. 
We stopped at the Sacred Staircase, and while read- 
ing over the list of sins and negligences for which 
the pope has decreed that pardon may be obtained by 
performing certain ceremonies there, a poor fellow 
came up and offered to show us, by imitation, how the 
devout ascend the stairs, fixing his price at a paolo, 
or ten cents : but we had soon an opportunity to see 



286 I^OWE. 

several persons come in and begin to mount the steps 
on their knees, counting their beads, from time to 
time, and crossing themselves, according to the letter 
of the rules. No one pretends to stand there upon his 
feet, although the steps are covered with thick plank, to 
prevent their being entirely worn away, of which there 
was great danger; but after reaching the top they 
walk down by side steps, and frequently begin the 
ascent again and again. 

Afterwards, returning to the Capitoline Hill with 
one of my friends, I made a more particular examina- 
tion than ever before, of the numerous remains of an- 
tiquity collected there. On the front or north side of 
the Capitol, is a fine square, bounded on the right and 
left by the Grand Museum, and the palaces of the 
Senate and of the Conservators. It opens on the 
fourth side at the noble staircase of 124 steps, lead- 
ing into the Campus Martins, where was formerly the 
steepest part of the hill, and the spot where the Gauls 
climbed up, and were prevented from taking the cita- 
del of Rome by the cackling of a goose, which was 
roosting on this spot. The Museum has already been 
mentioned ; and before speaking of the opposite pala- 
ces, I would just enumerate some of the statues in 
the great square, which appeared far more interesting 
since we were able to refer them to the places where 
they formerly stood : a fountain ornamented with two 
recumbent statues of the gods of the Nile and the 
Tiber, from the Quirinal Hill ; the supposed eques- 
trian statue of Constantine, from the Lateran; the 
trophies of Marius, or Augustus; Castor and Pollux, 
colossal, from PompeyvS theatre; and the first mile 
stone from the Appian Way, in the form of a short 
column, half covered with an inscription and termi- 
nating with a ball. In the Senate Room is a small 



ROME. 287 

wolf in bronze, accompanied by the children Romu- 
lus and Remus, found under the brow of the Palatine 
Hill. A fracture may be observed in the right hinder 
leg of the animal, which has in some measure the ap- 
pearance of having been melted out ; and it was with 
no small interest we heard, that this is commonly re- 
ceived as the identical wolf which was struck by 
lighlnii]g on the day preceding the death of Caesar — 
a season remarkable for prodigies : when 

" The graves stood tenantless ; and the sheeted dead 
Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets." 

The palace of the Conservatori is so abundant in pic- 
tures and so well known, as to excuse the want of 
a description. It is quite bewildering to a stranger 
even to walk hastily through the halls and saloons in 
which they are exhibited ; but when he pauses in turn 
before each object, and refers to its design and his- 
tory, the mind proves still more incompetent to the 
task of retaining any ideas at all concerning a large 
portion of them. There was however a modern in- 
scription composed for the place, which contains a 
more touching appeal to ancient times than I have 
found, Except in the improvisatore, unless indeed my 
Latin has entirely failed me, or the mutilated statues 
around produced an effect which I unconsciously as- 
cribed to the lines. 

Coming out of a side door from this palace, we pro- 
ceeded along near the southern brow of the Capito- 
line Hill, in search of a very interesting site described 
by our book. A narrow street appeared, so crowded 
with miserable houses that nothing else was to be seen 
on either hand ;' and the pavement was so filthy that it 
required no small resokition to proceed, particularly 
when we received an addition to our society of six 



288 KOME. 

or eight little ragged beggars. One of them offered 
to conduct us to the place we sought; and leading us 
near to where the street ended in nothing, mounted a 
few steps, knocked at the door of a poor woman's 
house, and when the inhabitant appeared, made us 
over to her care. No one 1 am sure could have ima- 
gined whither this was to lead ; and we hesitated 
some time before we could be convinced that there 
was no mistake in the case. At length we followed 
the Roman dame through a narrow entry, up a lowlj 
staircase, and over a tub of water from which she 
was washing it, and at last into a little three-cornered 
garden, which was raised so high by the irregularity 
of the ground, and where the sun was shining cheer- 
fully upon the flowers of merely useful herbs and 
kitchen vegetables. Below us we immediately recog- 
nised the Palatine in front, the Forum on the left, and 
the Temple of Peace, and the Colosseum beyond. 
Stepping to the low garden wall on the right, we found 
ourselves on the brow of a precipice, which, though 
interrupted by a narrow terrace, descended very ab- 
ruptly to the level of the streets below, a distance of 
fifty or sixty feet. In spite therefore of its humble ac- 
cess, and the manner in which it is covered with soil, 
excepting where a few stony angles project here and 
there, we could easily persuade ourselves that, as our 
guide assured us, many an old Roman had met his 
death by being plunged from this height, and that we 
were standing on the Tarpeian Rock. 

At some distance from this spot and at the base of 
the Capitoline Hill, not far from the other side of the 
Capitol itself, we found the ancient Tullian and Ma- 
mertine Prisons, but not until we had past them seve- 
ral times; for like most other places which are regard- 
ed as sanctified by the saints, they are quite conceal- 



KOME, 



289 



ed by architectural decorations. First we entered 'a 
small room where about a dozen people, principally of 
the poorer class, were on their knees at silent prayer, 
near a ballustrade behind which were hung innumera- 
ble little offerings or memorials left there by the 
devout : locks ofi^hair, bits of gilt paper, &c. &c. 
A long inscription in the midst of these held forth that 
Saints Peter and Paul were formerly imprisoned in the 
dungeons below; but in order to gain access to them 
we had to go round to the door of a church which has 
been built directly over the spot, first observing how- 
ever an official paper of the Pope's stuck up in a glass 
frame, by which instrument he kindly granted, to all 
who should perform certain forms and duties therein 
prescribed, the remission of one third of their sins. 
But there seemed a little like subtlety in this when it 
was referred to that plain rule of arithmetic, which says 
that no such division as this will ever reduce even a 
small sum to nothing. A little boy at the church conduct- 
ed us down a staircase, by lamp light, into a small and 
nearly circular arched room, built entirely of large un- 
cemented blocks of stone, about 20 feet in diameter, 
and 7 or 8 in height. It was built by Ancus Martius, 
the fourth king of the Romans, and formerly was 
accessible only by the hole in the roof, over which the 
goaler's house was built. This was the Mamertine 
Prison : the Tullian is immediate under it, formed on 
the same plan and of the same materials, but smaller 
and lower, so that a man of common stature can stand 
erect no where but in the middle of the floor. This 
was designed by Servius Tullius as a place of confine- 
ment for the worst offenders, who were lowered down 
through the holes in both roofs ; and here it is said 
Saint Peter and Saint Paul were imprisoned for 
many months, and performed various miracles, for 

37 



290 ^OME. 

which cause it is that peculiar sanctity is attributed to 
the place. Here we saw a narrow stone slab fastened 
to the wall, which our little guide informed us served 
the saints as a table ; a half decayed iron post, to 
which they were chained ; and a spring, usually cover- 
ed up, which first appeared to furnish water for the 
baptism of several martyrs, who were imprisoned with 
Saint Paul. There certainly was something very 
solemn in the sight of these objects, when we reflect- 
ed that what we heard might have some foundation in 
truth : for nothing thus far seemed contradictory to 
the account of Saint Paul's residence in Rome given in 
the New Testament ; and the silence, the gloom, and 
the dungeon-aspect of the place, forcibly recalled 
the circumstances of that period, and naturally led the 
mind to the exalted character of the apostle, and the 
sublime range his meditations might have taken in 
that very spot. But we were much more inclined to 
questions and doubts, when we heard the supersti- 
tious story of the fountain still springing up annually 
on the anniversary of the day ; and that of a subter- 
ranean passage, (of which we saw nothing but the 
shut and bolted door,) made by an angel who came in 
the night and delivered the prisoners, leading them 
under ground beyond the walls of the city, near one 
of the gates : and were shown on the wall the shape 
of a head, with a long beard, which one of the apos- 
tles is said to have made by resting his cheek against 
the stone. 

During a stroll through the Public Garden towards 
evening, we observed an English lady pass in an open 
carriage, attended only by a coachman and a foot- 
man in livery. It might be judged from her air that 
she made no small pretensions to taste and learning : 
for though her hat was more than sufficiently deco- 



ROME. -THE COLOSSEUM. 291 

rated with flowers, she had plainly been out on a ruin- 
hunt, having two volumes of Strangers' Guides care- 
lessly thrown upon the cushion, and near half a bushel 
of large stones lying loose at her feet. Such a speci- 
men of dilapidation made us tremble for some of our 
favourite ancient monuments, which, after surviving so 
long the ravages of time, were threatened with speedy 
annihilation by the hand of pedantic Gothicism. 

11 o'clock at. night. — We have just returned from a 
nocturnal visit to the Colosseum, which we had been 
delaying for some time, till the age of the moon and the 
hour of her meridian should be most favourable to our 
purpose. This evening we set off between nine and 
ten, and found the sky still calm and unclouded, and 
the streets quiet and nearly deserted, although our way 
lay through some of the most populous parts of the city. 
The dreary Forum, overspread with an undistinguish- 
able mass of ruin, lay in deadly silence as if it had no 
voice to raise against the triumphant victory of time ; 
and a few stately columns here and there, touched by 
the moon, seemed like the dim forms of spectres haunt- 
ing some ancient battle field, and bending over deep 
and unknown graves. 

Entering one of the portals of the Colosseum, and 
crossing the two lofty parallel corridors, we climbed 
up the ruins of a staircase to the second floor, and 
then with still greater difliculty to the third, by a steep 
ascent of brickwork more than half broken down. 
Great care was necessary in proceeding to the north- 
eastern side of the building, where we expected to 
find the best point of view : for the double corridors 
had their plastered floors broken through in several 
places, and if we attempted to follow the short passa- 
ges or the flights of steps which once conducted the 
spectators to their places, there was danger of sud- 



292 ROME.— THE COLOSSEUM. 

denly falling to a great depth, for the seats have 
long since disappeared. The arches and columns, 
broken and interrupted as they frequently were, also 
tended to perplex our way, by throwing over us alter- 
nately deep darkness and bright beams of moonlight, 
so that we soon began to repent our thoughtlessness in 
neglecting to take for a guide one of the friars who 
have a chapel among the ruins, and are always ready 
to conduct strangers. Not being very fond of the dic- 
tatorial volubility which they usually possess how- 
ever, particularly on an occasion like the present, we 
proceeded, and at length stopped at a place which 
was impassable, on the verge of a mural precipice 
about a hundred feet high. Turning toward the 
centre of the building, we were half surrounded by 
huge, shapeless masses of masonry on the right and 
left, some presenting columns of darkness that seemed 
as if blackened by a conflagration, and others stand- 
ing out in the broad moonlight, while their shadows 
were pursuing their silent course along the broken 
floor, and adding another hour to the ages of desola- 
tion. Many similar masses appeared in confusion 
just below : but as the eye pursued the circuit within 
the lofty walls on either side, it traced the long sweep- 
ing lines of broken parapets, which still, as if in derision, 
marked rndely out the ancient bounds between dif- 
ferent grades of citizens. Far to the right and left they 
extended to follow the form of the building, till they en- 
tered the deep uniform shape of the southern wall near- 
ly eight hundred feet distant, where they met and com- 
pleted many a noble elliptic curve. Such fantastic 
figures did the clear but deceptive moon seem to conjure 
up before us, with its lights and shadows displayed in 
every form and varied with all the degrees of inten- 
sity, that the fancy was continually inclined to people 



ROME.—THE COLOSSEUM. 293 

the broken tiers with gigantic spectators, waiting in 
silence for some mysterious show in the empty arena. 
Yet the impression of desertion and decay still dwelt 
upon the mind ; for the massive columns above us 
were hung with creeping vines, and little banks of moss 
spread their green and sickly hue over many a rude 
pinnacle below, once the envied stations of the great 
and honourable men of Rome. The eye shrunk from 
pursuing the light, as it mounted with bold steps from 
one mouldering pile to another, and slept in dangerous 
security on the ridge of the *outer wall ; while the 
heart ached at the dark gulfs that yawned around, and 
in the irksome society of the impending ruins. 

In the broad arena many early Christians had shed 
their blood, and eighty thousand persons had looked 
down at once from the sides of this mountain-like 
edifice, upon the calm demeanour of those who had 
received the precepts of the gospel from Paul's own 
lips. The sanguinary scenes of the gladiators served 
to remind us of other and more mysterious deeds of 
blood, which are said to have been perpetrated in this 
place within the compass of but a very few years ; for we 
had heard the tal*^ of a friar who was discovered to be 
the foul murderer of many a stranger here at night, 
after leading him to some lonely part of the ruins 
under the pretence of being a frieridly conductor. 
We heard voices, and soon perceived that a party of 
persons were approaching the place where we stood. 
For fear our sudden • appearance might give them 
some anxiety, we stepped into the shade of a column, 
and the next moment one of the cowled brethren of 
the chapel passed very near, with a lamp in his hand, 
followed by a young Englishman, his mother and four or 
five pretty little brothers and sisters. The matron had 
a handsome, intelligent face ; and while her dignified 



294 ROME.—THE COLOSSEUM. 

deportment and the sweetness of her voice in speak- 
ing to her children, showed that they had an aflTec- 
tionate instructress and a lofty example in the path of 
virtue, the deep sparkles in her eye proved that she 
partook with rapture in the sublimity of the scene. 
Doubly mild was the moonlight that fell on this amia- 
ble group, as they stood gazing upon the amphithea- 
tre thoughtless of harm ; and sweeter than ever the 
sound of our native tongue, as they spoke the praises 
of ancient Rome. They repassed without perceiving 
us, and disappeared arhong the columns of the corri- 
dors, so that we saw them no more ; although a lamp 
glimmered two or three times along the deep shades 
of the opposite walls, as they moved slowly on through 
the almost endless passages. 

Rome, February 15. Having risen at an early hour 
this morning, I mounted the magnificent staircase of 
white stone which leads from the neighbouring 
Spanish Square up the Pincian Hill. The mere fact 
that this staircase was built to form a more conve- 
nient and elegant access to a church, is sufficient indi- 
cation that the supremacy of ecclesiastical subjects is 
very extensive in Rome ; nor does the interior of the 
" Church of the Trinity of the mountains," to which 
it now conducts, offer a different aspect. It was 
founded by Charles Vllf. of France, and restored and 
decorated by Louis XVIH. The splendid altars 
erected in some of the chapels, together with the 
paintings from the hands of esteemed masters, which 
hang upon the walls, are too numerous to be described, 
and indeed to be particularly noticed after a hasty 
inspection. In truth it is to be confessed that many 
persons must necessarily feel that such exhibitions are 
displayed almost in vain in such a place, where it 
continually recurs to mind how easily they may 



ROME.— THE COLOSSEUM. 295 

become the objects of superstitious regard. Besides, 
the altars made of costly party-coloured stones, and 
the sculptured monuments raised, not to the humble, 
the contrite, but to those who have endowed the 
church with their estates : — all these speak too loudly 
the praises of worldly splendour to claim the chief 
station in so sacred a place. The decorations of the 
walls seemed striving for victory with the memory 
of the dead who slept beneath our feet ; with what 
success may be imagined, when it is mentioned that 
every stone of the pavement seemed to have once 
borne an epitaph, and many an ancient family crest 
lay trodden on and half obliterated before us. 

The sun was rising as 1 left the church and walked 
towards the English Garden. From this elevated 
ground along the brow of the hill, the whole extent of 
the Campus Martins was overlooked, while the towers 
and cupolas which rose above the confused mass of 
the city, caught one by one a strong reflectior' from the 
east. The top of St. Peter's lay in front, quite at the 
north-western corner of the city ; and in short, among 
all that assemblage of buildings which cover the Cam- 
pus Martins, nothing appears above the general sur- 
face to recal ancient times, except perhaps the dome of 
the Pantheon and the column of Antonine : for the (ew 
scattered edifices of which it once could boast either 
have entirely disappeared, like the Senate House of 
Pompey, and the naval theatre of Domitian which 
some supposed occupied the site of the Spanish 
Square ; or have retained only a few shattered 
remains, like the tomb of Augustus, the Por*ico of 
Octavia, the Theatre of iMarceitus, and the eleven un- 
known columns built into the Custom House. 

Our Roman friend informs us that the Pope's guards 
were called out at near twelve last night, and ordered 



296 ROME. 

to the Vatican ; and that the whole city was already 
in a state of alarm when he reached the Corso : new§ 
having arrived that the Neapolitans had crossed their 
boundary in three places, and were on their march to 
Rome. On account of our secluded residence we had 
heard nothing of the tumult; but troops were hastily, 
assembled, and dispatched to different posts, and the 
Pope's horses were harnessed and led out, ready to 
convey him to Civita Vecchia, at the Tiber's mouth, 
where a- vessel has been for some time kept ready to 
sail at a moment's warning, under an apprehension of 
such an event. The alarm however proved to be false, 
and the agitation subsided. 

After breakfast several of our party, including our 
new friends, took a walk to St. Peter's. It seems to be 
quite impossible for the memory to do justice to the 
size of this building, for every time we enter it, we are 
little less astonished at its vastness than we were at 
first. The great reason why strangers so often com- 
plain of never being able to comprehend it, even on the 
spot, is that the mere decorations of the church are 
all graduated on the same gigantic scale. The statues 
of the saints on the columns are nearly twice the size of 
common men, and the sculptured angels supporting 
some of the founts of holy water, though they pass for 
infantile forms, are near six feet high. Thus the eye 
is deceived in measuring heights and distances, by as- 
suming a scale by far too large; and hence it is, that 
we feel that indescribable awkwardness when we move, 
arisino; from an equal mistake concerning our own 
stature, which makes our steps scarcely half so long 
as we expected, and shrinks us up to the narrow dimen- 
sions of pigmies. While standing still in the middle of 
the floor, with nothing near to compare directly with 
the human form, a person will admire the magnificence 



ROME.-ST. PETER'S. 297 

tind the majesty of the building; but the effect is re- 
doubled in an instant, when he approaches one of the 
grand columns, and finds his head reaching no higher 
than the top of the pedestal — when he looks beyond 
and reflects that the opposite window is seven hundred 
feet distant, and yonder little twisted columns, which 
support the canopy over the altar, are each seventy 
feet high. 

Mrs. had permitted her waiting maid to ac- 
company her, it having been for many days her press- 
ing request, that she might see St. Peter's but for once : 
a thing which she deliberately intended to be proud 
of for the rest of her life. And in truth, it is a gratifica- 
tion which few of her kinsfolk can expect to enjoy: 
for she, like ourselves, was from the other side of the 
Atlantic, and knew those who loved to hear of foreign 
wonders. All this we could perceive, as she stood 
there to represent an unsophisticated country, with 
her sad-coloured cotton shawl, calf-skin shoes, and 
modest sun-bonnet, though she neither spoke nor 
smiled ; and from her deep-rooted gaze, now fixed, 
now wandering, we knew she was better pleased than 
the English cockney at our Niagara, who complained 
that it did not answer his expectations. 

The bronze statue of the patron saint is placed ou 
the left of the altar, and is the only prominent figure 
not larger than the natural size. The toe is not entire- 
ly worn away by kissing, as has been often stated, but 
has certainly lost a very considerable piece. The 
waste however is not occasioned by the lips, but by the 
hands or handkerchiefs of the devout, which we obser- 
ved were always passed over the surface before the lips 
are applied, nierely to improve the association of ideas. 

I know not how many confession-boxes are scatter- 
ed about the church, but there is certainly one for each 

38 



298 HOME.— ST. PETER»S. 

of the principal languages spoken in Europe. Could 
assent be once yielded to some of the points which 
Protestants have always contested so strenuously, it 
is easy to see that the natural impression of this trans- 
cendant piece of architecture would be greatly height- 
ened by a crowd of solemn reflections. Could we be- 
lieve that the body of St. Peter actually lies buried in 
the splendid vault beneath the high altar, that "on this 
rock" the church was founded, in the sense supposed 
in Italy, that the keys of hell and death were trans- 
mitted from him to his pretended successors, and that 
the present pontiff, Pius the seventh, has the power of 
forgiving the sins of any person on earth, we should 
look with deep solemnity on every thing around us. 
Thousands and thousands sincerely believe all this, 
and who that errs himself will not rather lament than 
smile at the confidence with which they enter the 
doors of the seven great churches in Rome, and repeat 
the formulas prescribed by the pope, merely because 
these words are written over the doors : 

" Plenaria Indulgentia pro vivis et mortis," 

and expect thus to purchase exemption from punish- 
ment, or as some say, from purgatory, either for them- 
selves or their departed friends ? Can power like this 
have been deposited in such hands ? Is the supposi- 
tion countenanced either by the personal characters 
of the popes, or by the effects of the system upon 
Christendom? Is it the part of God's vicegerent to 
shut up the Scriptures from those for whom they were 
designed, to suspend his anathemas in modern times, 
merely for fear of their being despised, when, accord- 
ing to his doctrines, there never was more pressing 
need of them? Is it acting in that high character, to 
refuse his soldiers their promised pay, to stand pre- 



ROME— ST. PETEK'S. 299 

pared at any moment to forsake the ecclesiastical 
throne, to keep a vessel prepared at Civita Vecchia, 
and horses always harnessed to escape at the earliest 
news of danger ? There is a great difference between 
believing and disbelieving this system, and that differ- 
ence is strongly felt in St. Peter's. 

With reflections like these we were slowly winding 
up the tedious ascent which leads to the roof of the 
church, and soon began to pass, one after another, 
the points at which many of the monarchs, princes, and 
princesses of Europe, had desisted from the toilsome 
attempt, from the mere fatigue of their mortal, though 
royal frames. Inscriptions affixed to the wall bore their 
names, and the dates, while not a single plebeian, let 
him mount to the top with ever so much alacrity, is al- 
lowed any memorial of his strength or his perseverance. 
The roof is so large, and occupied by so many domes 
for the chapels below, and temporary residences for dif- 
ferent persons, that it would be very easy for a stranger 
to lose his way and wander about a long time. The 
spacious roof is divided into branches like streets, and 
cats were seen prowling about as if in a city. The 
great dome was yet to be ascended. On approaching 
the copper ball above it, we heard the sound of a 
northern language, and on entering it, recognised 
our acquaintance, the young German of Terracina 
memory. 

This edifice doubtless approaches the grandeur and 
richness of ancient Rome, for though it was surpassed 
in size by the Colosseum, several of the public baths, 
&c. yet it sustains at a great height in the air, a dome, 
little inferior in size to the famous Pantheon. 

A few steps lead from the portico of St. Peter's to the 
palace of the Vatican, which adjoins it on the left. 
This immense building is divided into several courts. 



300 ROME.— ST. PETER»S. 

some of which are supplied with three or four tiers of 
open piazzas. Let me pass by in silence the saloons 
devoted to the works of the great masters of the pencil, 
as 1 am utterly incompetent to speak of them : although 
it would have seemed like a matter of no great self- 
denial, to renounce the exterior world and take up a 
solitary abode among them. The fame of " the Trans- 
figuration," the master-piece of Raphael, had perhaps 
too highly excited my expectations ; yet I long remained 
before it, observing the expression of the figures, and 
the richness of the colours, to impress them more deep- 
ly upon my memory. My point of view was not far 
from the window through which the light was admitted, 
and my mind will ever recur with great delight to that 
secluded apartment, and to that spot, so highly favour- 
ed above all the Vatican, and every other palace in the 
world, to recal those features which I cannot describe, 
and to enjoy again many new and delightful feelings 
which I can never forget, but am totally unable to 
express. 

We entered a hall, probably about one fifth of a 
mile in length, lined with a double row of ancient sta- 
tues and reliefs, principally from the tombs of the Ap- 
pian Way. Thousands, 1 think, of sepulchral inscrip- 
tions were fastened into the walls behind them, so 
ranged indeed as to preserve little of their original 
appearance, yet so as to ensure their preservation. 

The most interesting of these objects, at a hasty 
examination, were those tak^n from the graves of the 
primitive Christians, most of which bore melancholy 
testimony to the persecutions of the times. The en- 
gravings were usually of the rudest and most hasty de- 
scription : ill-formed initials, succeeded too often by a 
rude delineation of some instrument of death or of tor- 
ture. These rough fragments of coarse stone were gen- 



ROME. 301 

<&irally taken from those caverns in the vicinity where the 
Christians used to assemble for secret prayer and 
praise, in times when it was dangerous to confess their 
faith, and where they usually deposited the ashes of 
their dead. The symbolic drawings on these broken 
monuments, were therefore more appropriate than 
elaborate epitaphs on the most eloquent marble ; 
and nothing else could have spoken so plainly of per- 
secution, endurance and martyrdom, as these rude and 
often doubtful outlines of a sword, an axe, a spear, and 
even of the dog, the bear, and the Lybian lion. 

Returning across the bridge, and pursuing our way 
for a mile along the narrow and dirty streets near the 
eastern bank, with only an occasional view of the river, 
we came to the Tiberine Island, off against which, 
and in one of the most populous and disagreeable 
parts of the city, are the remains of the Theatre of 
Marcellus, built by Augustus. They present to the 
street a curve of that noble wall which once con- 
tained 30,000 spectators ; and although the corridors 
have been divided into habitations, according to the 
usual ideas of elegance now prevalent in Rome, and 
the grand entrances are reduced to the size of doors 
and windows, and, when rented, are stocked with dirty 
faces, or old clothes and other mean merchandise, 
the ancient Doric and Ionic pilasters retain their 
places between and above them. The architecture, 
disgraced as it is, is regarded with admiration by con- 
noisseurs, and considered as the highest authority in 
every question relating to the rules of those two styles, 
such is the perfection and beauty of its proportions. 

The ancient entrance to the magnificent Portico of 
Octavia, was to be sought in the immediate vicinity of 
this spot, and was soon found facing an open square, 
occupied, even to the massive foundations of that Au- 



302 ROME—JEWS' QUARTER. 

gustan ruin, by the stalls and the scaly wares of a fish- 
market. Such things must be endured in Rome! I 
sought oblivion in a long, narrow street before me, 
which appeared to be remarkably crowded with peo- 
ple. Both sides were lined with little shops, that 
were completely stuffed with inhabitants, darken- 
ed with the innumerable articles exposed for sale, 
and unusually noisy with the hum of voices. 1 had 
hardly entered the street when 1 was eagerly accosted 
by a young man, and soon afterwards by an old one, 
who seemed resolved never to leave me, until I should 
consent to enter their shops, as if hungry, nay, fam- 
ished for trade. The way was lined and obstructed 
by men, women and children, pursuing all sorts of 
occupations, with an alacrity I had never before wit- 
nessed, unless in some busy manufactory : certainly 
never in Italy. On a sudden I recollected myself — 
1 was in the Jews' Quarter; and this immediately 
explained the undefined strangeness of every thing 
around me. 

Here were men bent down with age, watching their 
little treasures of trinkets, or old shoes, with the 
strongly marked physiognomy of their nation, and 
their long beards and keen eyes, like hawks over their 
prey; and there, a beautiful child, or a tall young 
Jewess, with the round face, black eyes, and noble 
form of her countrywomen, habited in a singular cos- 
tume, and fit for a Rebecca of York, or even a Queen 
Esther. Notwithstanding the poverty manifested by 
many of them in their employments, and the crowded 
manner in which they are compelled to live by the 
severity of the government, the universal bustle at- 
tested strong habits of industry; and no one could 
reflect on their descent without a sentiment of respect, 
for the pride with which they trace their relationship to 



KOME. 3()3 

the captives taken at Jerusalem, and the stern perse- 
verance of their character, which has not suffered 
one of them to pass through the Arch of Titus since 
the day of his triumph, and even extends to every 
person around, of whatsoever age or sex. 

They are however no less the children of those 
who once assembled to hear the Gospel from the lips 
of St. Paul, and whose resolute unbeHef drew from 
him that solemn prophecy now so strikingly fulfilled ; 
" Be it known therefore unto you that the salvation of 
God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear 
it." Here they are, Jews still, like their fathers, 
while the doctrines of Paul have overspread half the 
world. 

Having passed several ruins, some distance below 
this, where the river bends off to the south-west, we 
saw two or three shapeless heaps in the middle of the 
stream, which are the old piers of the Sublitian 
Bridge; and just beyond a few boats with latteen 
sails, the fleet, the navy of modern Rome. Decli- 
ning from the shore, a road led us between vineyard 
walls and waste grounds, along under the western 
brow of the Palatine Hill, which, like the Aventine 
on our right, is divided between cultivated fields, reli- 
gious edifices, and Roman ruins, and presents them at 
almost every step in some new, but rather discordant 
point of view. We several times trod over broad 
brick walls sunk in the ground, which on a reference 
to our books proved to have belonged to the Circus 
Maximus, whose immense horse-shoe form might be 
dimly traced on the surface of the gentle valley at 
our right, very narrow, it is true, in proportion to its 
breadth, but stretching along for nearly half a mile. 
The lower part of this ground, which still retains its 
artificial smoothness, is supposed to have been a naval 



304 l^OME.— THE APPIAN WAY. 

theatre, for the mimic sea-fights ; and furnished with 
water from the baths of Caracalla, the immense ruins 
of which appeared among the open vineyards a mile 
before us. On our left were the confused arches of 
the Palace of the Caesars, to which we found access 
through the gate of a small house. It was a dizzy 
sight to look up at the noble arches of brick-work 
overhanging us at the height of about sixty feet^ 
sometimes oppressed as they were by a second row 
of scarcely less gigantic dimensions. The sun was 
low in the west, and shone full upon those naked piles, 
while a solitary little bird, perched among the ivy 
which clustered round their summits, began its melo- 
dious little song, as if to furnish a striking contrast to 
their awful size and solemn stillness. 

Rome, February 16. — Ever since the first glimpse I had 
caught of the Appian Way, I had felt a strong desire to 
examine its numberless and venerable ruins at leisure, 
and to contract a more intimate acquaintance with that 
most imposing entrance to the city. With this view, 
at an early hour this morning, I left the city by the 
Gate of St, Paul, adjoining which is the noble pyra- 
midal tomb of Caius Cestius; and at the distance of a 
mile beyond, turned off to the left by a winding little 
road which seemed to promise a speedy communica- 
tion with the Appian Way. My expectations however 
soon proved to be ill-founded : for after a walk of 
some time, and getting involved among gentle hills 
and clumps of bushes which grew here and there, 
the road divided itself into so many paths, and 
declined so far towards the south, that it evidently 
could conduct me to nothing but one of the neigh- 
bouring farm-houses, and it was necessary to take a 
short cut across the fields. Among the walls I had 
already noticed the yellow stones i take for volcanic, 



KOME.-THE APPIAN WAY. 305 

which are frequently seen scattered in the vicinity of 
Rome ; and here, among the fields of grass and the 
vineyards, were the still more frequent remains of 
ancient buildings. Many a shapeless heap of rub- 
bish lay on the right and left, generally overspread 
with a mournful veil of ivy ; and the site of many a long 
forgotten mansion was indicated only by its shattered 
bricks and marble, spread like a mere intermixture of 
gravel, for a large space around, or by a stratum of 
similar materials laid open by the path, when it 
penetrated the surface a little deeper than ordi- 
nary. The fields were large, the land poor, the in- 
habitants few and the dwellings mean. Broad ditches 
and tall hedges usually await travellers in all coun- 
tries who wander from the high road, and this tract of 
country is by no means an exception to the general 
rule. In spite of them all however, and some mental 
bewildering produced by the numerous memorials or 
rather hints of former and better days, the tomb of 
Horatia and the Appian Way appeared in sight at the 
end of an hour. 

A little beyond, on the right hand, stood a hand- 
some church, and taking my book from my pocket, I 
began to search for a history of it. An old priest 
stood near talking with a little girl about eight years 
old. She was knitting as she talked, and occasionally 
turned a watchful eye on several large grey oxen, 
which were feeding close by. She seemed to carry 
herself with much respect towards the priest ; but 
there was something in her remarks that made him 
occasionally turn his face to smile. — " Many have 
supposed," said my book, " that an ancient temple of 
Apollo once occupied this spot, and that this church 
was founded by Constantino ; but it is more probable 
that, in the year 367, Pope St. Damasus built it^ over 

39 



306 ROME—THE APPIAN WAY. 

the spot where the bodies of St. Peter and St. Paul 
were discovered, in the tomb of St. Calistus, near the 
Appian Way, and near the place where St. Sebastian 
was interred by St. Lucina, a Roman lady. The 
church was restored by Adrian 1. and Eugene IV. 
Finally Cardinal Borghese entirely rebuilt it, in 1611, 
adding the front and the portico, after the design of 
Flaminius Ponzio, succeeded by Giovanni Vasanzio, a 
Fleming. He decorated the great altar, which has 
four columns of verde-antique," &;c. &c. 

As the old priest had now gone away, the little girl 
walked slowly towards me, looking by turns at the 
cattle and the stranger, and knitting very sedately. 
" Is this the church of St. Lorenzo, little girl ?" 
" Signor si, [yes sir,] will you go in and see it ? Shall 
I go and call brother Luigi back ?" " No, no, I have 
no time to spare — You have some fine oxen yonder." 
" Yes sir, they are very good and quiet. They let me 
take care of them, and do every thing I tell them, 
although I am a little girl. There are only nine now ; 
the other has gone away — the companion of that you 
see on the little bank. I don't believe you ever saw 
better oxen sir. Only observe what a good grey 
colour they have : that is the best colour for oxen." — 
She wore a bonnet made of coarse braided straw, and 
carried another tied to her arm. She had a most 
amiable little face, and 1 thought might have been 
taken for a New England child, even to the crooked 
rusty knitting-needles she had in her hands. The 
stocking however was of brown thread ;" her knitting- 
sheath a hollow stick, (perhaps elder,) and when she 
spoke, it was only Italian. " Is that your first stock-^ 
ing ?" " Signor no — I have knit a w hole pair before 
this, for you will perceive I can knit almost all day, 
while the weather is so clear and warm, though I 



ROME.— THE APPIAN WAY. 3Q7 

am sometimes interrupted when the oxen stray, and 
very often by my little sister you see there, running 
up to us with her hair flying. She is not my sister 
either, but the daughter of my mother-in-law. Her 
name is Maria — I am Teresa — Ah, Maria ! Where 
have you been to get your cheeks so red ? Come here 
and put on your bonnet." But the bright-eyed little 
girl refused and resisted, from mere excess of spirits ; 
and though more wild and roguish, was quite as good 
natured as her sister. " There signor, you see what a 
trouble she is : she won't mind me. She is very bad 
[cattiva,] do you not think so ? — But would not you 
like to go in and see the church sir ? You will find 
the chapel of San Fabiano, and that of San Sebas- 
tiano over his own tomb. Oh, they are very beautiful. 
You can see the catacombs too sir, where all the 
Christians were buried; and if brother Luigi were 
only here — I'll ring the bell, and then he'll come back, 
and tell you a great deal about them. He knows all 
the chapels, and the statues, and the pictures, and 
where the Christians used to pray under ground, and 
bury the martyrs." 

1 was too much in haste, and contented myself with 
a hasty glance at the interior of the church, without 
waiting for the catacombs to be opened, concerning 
which my book confirmed the words of my little friend. 
As I came out she asked me for some money, though 
with a downcast look and an actual blush, which on 
account of their rarity speedily atoned for a speci- 
men of that avarice far more common in this coun- 
try. " How can you ask me for any thing," said 
I, " when you have nine large oxen like those, and I 
have not one, and never had any." " Please to bear in 
mind, signor," she answered, coming nearer with her 
needle pointed at me — " Please to bear in mind that 
they are not my oxen. They belong to Giuseppe 



308 ROME.— THE APPIAN WAY. 

[Joseph,] a gentleman who leaves them with us to be 
taken care of, and pays us very little for it. Giuseppe 
lives in Rome. My house [casa mia] is only a little 
way from here. Will you go and see it ? Come, I 
will show it you. — Thank you signor — But if you 
don't give Maria a baiocch' too, I am afraid she will 
cry." Maria did indeed begin to look sorrowful, and 
was just about to cry — or, as Teresa expressed it, to 
set herself to weeping — but she could not dissemble, and 
broke out in a broad laugh, while Teresa bade me 
" addio" with a sweet smile. 

Such a child as this would be pretty in any part of 
the world ; but here, her amiable traits of character 
and innocent little features were singularly set off by 
the solemn, pompous ideas to which the surround- 
ing objects conducted the mind, like the sparrow 
chirping among the ruins of Caesar's Palace. The 
mind does not readily mingle little things and great in 
this manner — abstract grandeur with the less heroic 
realities of common life. I had not calculated on 
finding such a little personage as Teresa in such a 
place, and I could not help repeating : " Can this be 
the Appian Way .f^" 

The little church of St. Mary of the Palms was 
soon in sight, and as usual the old priest started from 
the door as soon as he was aware of my approach ; 
and walking to meet me, proposed to show me " the 
Holy Stone." This church is built over the ancient 
Appian Way, and a considerable length of the pave- 
ment is still visible outside of its walls. It is said to 
have derived its name from its being on the site of the 
famous Temple of Mars, which was surrounded with 
palm trees. But it has also two names beside this, 
one of which is " Domine, quo vadis ?" because it is 
believed that St. Peter once met our Saviour on 
this spot, carrying his cross upon his shoulder, and 



HOlVrE.— THE APPIAN WAY. 3Q9 

addressed him in those words, [in English, Lord 
where goest thou ?] On entering the door I found 
that the section of the road which it contained served 
partly for a floor ; and that a small iron grating was 
fastened over a block of marble, which had been sub- 
stituted for one of the stones, and bore the figure of a 
human foot, most rudely sculptured, with the toes all 
of the same length and terminating in a line. This 
my officious instructor informed me was intended as a 
copy of the original stone, which had been miracu- 
lously impressed with the foot of our Saviour when 
seen by the apostle. That stone had long been re- 
moved, to preserve it from the touch of the devout, 
who sometimes resort to the place in great numbers ; 
and yet they have such a superstitious regard for this 
substitute, that it would soon be worn out but for 
the iron bars. The priest would gladly have had me 
spend an hour or two with him, I have no doubt, for he 
was quite talkative, and urged me to look at a few 
other curiosities in the church ; but having much more 
to do than himself, I left him, and soon passed over the 
ground mentioned a few days since, by the Circus of 
Caracalla, to the Tomb of Cecilia Metella. 

Beyond the quadrangular walls of the little Gothic 
fortress, was a cluster of houses stretching half a mile, 
with some cultivated ground ; and there, as well as in 
many places before, huge heaps of masonry, some of 
them sixty feet high, would start up from behind 
clumps of ornamental trees, and in the midst of grass- 
plats and flower-gardens ; the remains of those mag- 
nificent tombs which once overshadowed the Appian 
Way. But all the habitations soon disappeared, to- 
gether with the cultivation and the enclosures of the 
fields ; and the road suddenly degenerated into a mere 
path overgrown with short grass. In front and on 



310 ROME— The appian way. 

both sides the view was extensive, over the waste, 
undulating surface of the Campagna, where desolation 
had reduced every thing to the same dull monotony. 
Long lines of aqueducts however were seen at various 
distances, stretching away towards the distant moun- 
tains; and, nearer at hand, those solemn objects which 
so deeply impress the mind at the first sight of this 
ancie^it road, served as a partial boundary to the eye, 
excluding a cheerless lai/dscape only to introduce 
their own more melancholy presence. The signs of 
life had all disappeared, and two long lines of ancient 
tombs led on hefore us like so many dark statues of 
ruin and decay, till they almost seemed to meet ; and 
the road could just be discerned, at the distance often 
miles, running up the opposite hill to Albano like a 
mere thread. 

The custom so universal among the Romans, of 
burying their dead along the principal roads without 
their city walls, must have had some influence on their 
character : for as they were a nation of soldiers, they 
were necessarily travellers, and thus the last objects 
they saw in leaving home, as well the first on their 
return, were the tombs of their ancestors. That the 
sepulchres of the Appian Way was peculiarly nume- 
rous and magnificent, there is sufficient evidcFice from 
various sources : but that to which I refer with most 
facility and satisfaction is found in the long halls of 
the Vatican and the Capitol. And if those beautiful 
statues do not speak enough, read the epitaphs, and say 
if there were ever such a noble historic gallery, one so 
replete with instruction : one that could address itself 
so powerfully to the personal feelings of almost every 
individual. Their excessive expense is to be highly 
condemned ; but certainly the Romans can hardly be 
viewed in a more attractive light, than when thus show- 













^' 






.1^ ■■■^ 






V /' 







ROME— THE APPIAN WAY. 311 

ing honour to the memory of their ancestors, and re- 
cording the lives of their fathers for their own imitation. 

The forms of these edifices were originally very 
various : but the ruins are still more so. A few which 
are built of brick preserve som? of their sides almost 
uninjured by time ; some have sunk down into heaps, 
and left nothing but little hillocks covered with grass, 
like giants' graves ; but the greater part are masses of 
rough stone and mortar, often so much worn aw^ay by 
long exposure to the elements, as to make it impossible 
to conjecture their original forms, and half covered 
with clusters of shrubs and ?vy. which render their 
outlines still more strange and irregular. Walking 
along this most melancholy avenue for a mile and a 
half, I came to the tomb formerly supposed to be that 
of the Servilia family, but left without a name 
since the undoubted discovery of the real one in 
1808. It is nearly 60 feet high, and was probably built 
in the form of a pyramid, though it has been so much 
worn away at the base, that it stands on a small sup- 
port like a mushroom, with a roof like a pent-house. 
Near it is a small round tower, which seems to have 
served the purposes of some of those little chieftains 
who divided up this classic soil according to the 
barbarous usages, and for the savage objects, of the 
feudal system. 

The tombs have long since been ransacked, and 
their most valuable contents and ornaments placed in 
the Vatican and the Capitol. The rest are scattered 
all over the world, but chiefly among the private cabi- 
nets of Romans, where statues, busts, relievos, inscrip- 
tions, lachrymatories and cinerary urns are found in 
abundance. In those which I entered therefore, I found 
nothing but a small square room, with the door usually 
on the side from the street, and a niche for urns on 



3X2 HOME.— THE APPIAN WAY. 

each of the others, now blackened with smoke, and 
showing that they had been used as temporary lodg- 
ings, probably by the few shepherds who wander with 
their flocks about the neighbouring country ; though a 
genius like Mrs. RatclifFe's might easily have peopled 
them with banditti. I examined some ruins on the left, 
of which my book took no notice whatever. They are 
of considerable size, well built of brick, and occupy a 
large quadrangle, with several subterranean rooms 
handsomely arched, where were pieces of wood half 
burnt, and fresh foot-steps on the clay floor. Three 
square ruins close by, seemed parts of a handsome 
villa, and the walls, like those of Maecenas's house in 
the baths of Titus, and many others of ancient brick, 
looked as fresh and entire as if built within five years, 
though they have probably stood thus unclaimed and 
useless for many centuries. 

It was now growing late ; the sun was low, and 1 
hastened back towards Rome. A shepherd who was 
watching his flock at a distance, was the only human 
being I saw ; and as he sat on a stone, dressed in a 
coat of shaggy skins, and apparently absorbed in 
thought, he seemed like a barbarous outcast from the 
world ; and his employment, which was that of knit- 
ting, was of a nature so trifling as almost to intimate 
the derangement of his mind. The setting sun was 
shining very bright, and strongly illuminated the ruins 
on one side, while the opposite parts w^ere thrown into 
a deep shade. Their appearance varied every mo*- 
ment as I passed on ; and their sad, though fantastic 
forms, seen against the pure sky, and suddenly assum^ 
ing some unexpected aspect or expression at almost! 
every step, seemed like a mysterious assembly of 
gloomy spirits, prepared to consult on subjects of an 
import not befitting mortal ears. To assert the claim 



HOME.— THE APPIAN WAY, 31 3 

of death and devastation over such a region as this, 
there certainly was little need : for who was there to 
deny it ? What mortal could have the audacity to raise 
his voice against the deep and long drawn silence 
which has settled upon a scene once so filled with 
promises of Roman immortality, and trodden in suc- 
cession by millions of feet, directed by motives no 
longer existing, and tending towards places now often 
unknown even by name : the soil that has been tramp- 
led by the war-horse of Scipio, and all the centurions 
and soldiers of his army, with their proud eagles gazing 
on yonder sun — the very dust that bore the footsteps 
of the poet Horace, and his friend Heliodorus, as they 
commenced their journey to Brundusium. 

Who could long endure the chilling presence of these 
frowning strangers ? As 1 passed on, I started more than 
once at a sudden motion in some neighbouring ruin, 
which seemed to threaten me with an ominous ges- 
ture : but they were the mere illusions of an imagina- 
tion bewildered by their strange and various features, 
and derived for a moment by a burst of light through 
some unexpected aperture, or by the fall of a fragment 
from a place it had occupied ever since the days of the 
Caesars or the consuls. It is with no small degree of 
satisfaction, that one finds himself rid of such sullen 
society, and discovers once more the signs of living 
men ; and as 1 turned to take a distant glance at the ruins 
of the Appian Way, now more dark and gloomy than 
ever since the setting of the sun, my eye rested with 
peculiar pleasure upon the far distant summits of the 
chain of Appennines, whose snowy ridges were still 
I shining bright like fire in the broad light of day, and 
seem to hint of a nobler world, far beyond the sphere 
of destruction and decay. 

40 



314 HOME.— THE APPIAN WAY. 

At the tomb of Cecelia Metella were two English 
artists or engineers, measuring the ruin ; at the church 
of the Palms, the old priest invited me to enter, 
without at first recognising his late visiter ; and not 
far beyond I was accosted with, " Ah buona sera, sig- 
nore !" from among a party of children, by a little girl, 
whose face was indistinctly famihar to me, and 1 could 
not quite recollect, until she said "I am Teresa!" 
" Here is my house, sir," she added, "you must step 
in." But just then a large ox, with a fierce aspect 
came running up, and the whole party instantly dis- 
persed with a faint scream, leaving me once more 
alone. 

A little within the Appian gate, following the direc- 
tions of my book, I knocked at the lowly entrance of a 
small vineyard, where I was admitted very readily by 
a tall old woman, when she understood that I had come 
to see a cavern near her house. Not so readily how- 
ever did I submit to her conduct, when after climbing 
a low ledge of rocks, she paused before a small, dark 
hole in the earth, and presenting me with a lighted 
candle, bade me follow her. It was so late that the can- 
dles cast a respectable shadow in the open air, and I 
felt little disposition to descend, even into the poetic 
shades, in such company, which would certainly draw^ 
Cerberus and all the other dogs at my heels ; however, 
when I declared 1 had no expectation of finding such a 
place, she gave me a vinegar look, and we both dis- 
appeared from human ken. Three or four sudden 
turnings among narrow passages and little square 
chambers, roughly hewn in the rock, brought us to an 
apartment, or rather a cell, perhaps eight or nine feet | 
square, with large niches, in which were still the re* 
mains of shelves; and at no great distance another, 



ROME. 315 

whence a marble coffin had been removed, richly sculp- 
tured, and accompanied with a long Latin inscription. 
Numerous other inscriptions, said my companion, with 
a yawn that made me think of the witch of Endor, many 
other inscriptions w^ere found here when this cavern 
was discovered in 1780; and one of them was still re- 
maining against the wall behind me. The letters were 
small, and the stone of a dark colour, which made it 
difficult to read it, and it required some attention 
to decipher the name of Scipio, though it still seemed 
as incredible as ever, that this poor, damp, contracted 
cavern, could ever have been the honoured tomb of 
that mighty race, who had exalted so much the power 
of Rome, by subduing to it half the then known world ; 
and that in yonder corner had quietly reposed for near 
two thousand year's, the ashes of Scipio Hispaniensis. 
Rome, February J 7.— At the palace of the Spada family 
this morning, we saw a fine gallery of paintings, and 
afterwards those parts of the building which are orna- 
mented with various specimens of sculpture. But the 
most interesting object of all, was a gigantic statue, in a 
commanding posture, occupying a pedestal at the end 
of a spacious hall. In the left hand is a small globe, 
and the right arm is extended, as if enforcing a public 
address. It was found by a man digging near the cel- 
lar wall of a house in the Campus Martins; but as one 
half of the statue was within the premises of his neigh- 
bour, his attempt to remove it produced a law-suit. On 
this subject my author is facetious, though not original. 
He remarks that the judge who occupied the bench 
at that time, " considering himself another Solomon, 
ordered that the statue should be divided between the 
two claimants ; but the cardinal Capo di Ferro, a great 
friend of the arts, and the founder of this palace, had 
this barbarous sentence suspended, until he could in- 



316 ROME 

form Pope Paul III. of the circumstances, and finally 
received as a present from that pontiff^ the treasure 
which he had preserved from destruction." 

There is an expression of dignity in the features, 
not unmixed with severity, before which the spectator 
confesses the same awe, as in the presence of a noble 
countenance agitated by a mind contemplating pro- 
found and momentous subjects ; and there is also a 
bold delineation of those traits, which the eye is more 
ready to attribute to the peculiar expression of an 
individual, than to the invention of an artist's way- 
ward fancy. The spot where it was discovered is 
near the site of the Senate House of Pompey, and it 
is received by antiquaries as the identical statue of 
that general, before which Julius Cgesar had been as- 
sassinated. To think of the noble blood that was shed 
before this half-human marble and even bathed its 
white surface ; and to look upon those features sternly 
frowning, as if not yet recovered from the impres- 
sion of that scene, recals the elevated ideas we are 
taught from our infancy to associate with it, together 
with the terrific omens, the tumult and dismay of the 
bloody Ides of March. How readily do we here for- 
get the ambitious, the dangerous part of Caesar's 
character, and recal only the broken-hearted exclama- 
tion with which he died : " Et tu, Brute !" [And you too, 
Brutus !] — an exclamation which to our fancy still rings 
in the ears of the statue itself. 

Near the Spada palace is the palace of Prince Pius> 
which is built on the remains of Pompey's Theatre, 
the earliest erected in Rome ; and the site of his Se- 
nate House, or Curia, is near at hand. In the great 
Navona square, in the middle of a beautiful public 
fountain, is the statue of a Moor in black stone, I 
think basalt, which in spite of its possessing the full 



HOME, 317 

African features, is so much esteemed for its execu- 
tion, that a prince not long since offered in exchange 
for it a whole palace, which stands in the neighbour- 
hood, and was refused. 

We next directed our course to the work shop of 
Canova, which is accessible at any hour of the day, 
although the artist is very rarely to be seen there, as 
he has a more secluded retreat where he can medi- 
tate, and design, and form his models without fear of 
interruption. These models, which are of plaster, 
are copied mechanically in marble by his workmen; 
and it is not until they have been reduced very 
nearly to the intended surface, that the master spirit 
assumes the chisel ; for then alone is an opportu- 
nity for the display of genius. Canova is considered 
the greatest sculptor of modern times, and the resto- 
rer of the pure taste of the ancients ; and has even 
received from some, the high title of the rival of Phi- 
dias and Praxiteles. 

After admiring some of his finest statues and relie- 
vos, particularly the Three Graces, a funeral proces- 
sion, Endymion sleeping, and Hebe ; we were struck 
on entering a long room, with the attitude of a female 
dancer. She has her arms a-kimbo, in the fashion of 
modern opera-dancers, and is in the act of stepping 
forward, with but the tip of one foot upon the pedes- 
tal, and that is apparently just springing up. Instead 
of the stony aspect which all statues possess, except 
those of the most superior merit, every thing here was 
expressive of the most animated and graceful motion : 
the drapery seemed actually blown back, and to wave 
in the air, so that we stood looking at it with an un- 
definable pleasure, and in deep admiration of that 
power which could furnish so liberally to the eye 
every other attribute of life, and withhold nothing but 



318 ROMfi. 

motion ; and still continue to promise, and still persist 
in withholding it. 

The statue of Washington, which has been made 
for the University of North Carolina, is a noble speci* 
men of sculpture, and we regarded it with a threefold 
interest : as a work of which Canova himself is proud, 
as the portrait of the man to whom our country is most 
indebted, and as an object to be hereafter regarded 
as one of the most honourable monuments to those 
individuals, by whose laudable exertions it is to be 
hoped a pure taste for the fine arts, will sooner or 
later be introduced and extended in America. 

Thorwaldson is the next sculptor to Canova, and in- 
deed, in the opinion of many, his equal if not his supe- 
rior, though the majority appear to be decidedly in 
in favour of his occupying the second place. At his 
work shop we found an artist of no inconsiderable 
eminence, whose brother, one of our former fellow-tra- 
vellers, had requested us to introduce ourselves. He 
very politely showed us various works of Thorwaldson, 
finished and unfinished ; and among others, the frag- 
ments of a model for a very large relievo, which was 
much admired by connoisseurs, as that is the branch 
of his art in which he particularly excels. The de- 
struction of it was caused by the falling through of 
the floor, at the time when it was almost completed. 

Afterwards we were conducted into the work shops 
of several other sculptors, and were not a little grati- 
fied to see how superior genius had been attracted 
from various parts of the world, to this centre of the 
fine arts ; and to observe, not only the beautiful crea- 
tions of foreign chisels, but the artists themselves, fan- 
cying the finest forms and postures, and embodying 
them in long-lived marble. The secluded places where 
they had retreated, beyond human view and even con- 



ROME. 329 

jecture, though too humble for those who love great 
splendour and space, were evidently the favourite re- 
sorts of taste ; and there was something in the medi- 
tative stillness of the walls, and the pale hues of the ar- 
tificial twilight, which showed at once the mild influence 
which it is the province of the arts to extend. In one 
place we saw a Polander, with a black velvet cap ; 
in another, a Spaniard, with black moustaches, and a 
severe abstracted countenance; and in a third, was 
Pietro Tanneranni, a young Italian artist from the 
neighbourhood of Carrara, of very promising talents 
and a prepossessing address. He had moulded the mo- 
del of a group, representing Cupid disdaining Psyche; 
and in the attitudes of these two children there was 
much of that ease, grace and nature, which we had 
too often sought in vain among inferior productions. 
The artist threw out some general praises of our coun- 
try, although he had no very distinct ideas concerning 
it, and we were sorry to put a sudden stop to them, by 
answering in the negative, when he inquired if his sta- 
tues would sell in America. 

While he conversed on the principles and practice 
of his art, we were clearly convinced that the life and 
warmth in which the coldest marble is sometimes ar- 
rayed, are communicated by the ardour of genius alone ; 
and when he enumerated some of the difficulties he 
had encountered in giving the appropriate expression 
to his figures in every point of view, he showed an 
intimate acquaintance with the anatomical structure of 
the human frame, together with a quick and enthusi- 
astic relish for what he called the perfection of forms 
and postures, which not a little surprised us. Expres- 
sion he most insisted on, and seemed for a time to give 
it application to the face only : but it was soon appa- 
rent that he allowed it a much more extensive mean- 



320 ROME. 

ing, and spoke in direct terms of the expression of 
an arm, a head, and even a foot, or a finger ; and a 
little attention proved that it was justly applied: for 
so deeply had nature been studied in composing this 
work, that each statue retained the same character 
from whatever side it was observed. Cupid was turn- 
ing away with a slow but determined step, and Psyche 
was stepping forward in a hurried manner; as if to 
detain him ; and these different motions were repre- 
sented by the figures on every side, with as much 
truth, though not always with the same degree of force. 
Our friend, in explaining some of the artist's remarks, 
mentioned that he had his working days, and his days 
for composing, which were determined by the state of 
his inventive faculties. One of us remarked, that his 
talent must resemble that of an improvisatore — Our 
friend smiled assent : " Say that," said he, " to Tanne- 
ranni !" 

The Pope has published to-day a bull, on the sub- 
ject of an amusement practised during the public mas- 
querades on some of the last days of the carnival. It 
has been customary on those occasions for gentlemen, 
and ladies too, to salute each other in passing through 
the crowd, by throwing handfuls of sugar plumbs into 
each others' faces : but from economical motives, not 
at all surprising, httle balls of plaster or chalk have 
been for some years gradually supplanting the original 
article, and that too with such an increase of bulk, 
that the amusement has taken a very unamiable form, 

and, as Mr. , says, the ladies no longer show it 

any countenance. To prevent this abuse, and to restore 
things to their old state, are the objects of the bull; 
and the trifling nature of this instrument is no unapt 
comment on the broad reductions which the pontifical 
power has suffered, since the days when it conferred 



ttOMK. 32 J 

the right of government on kings, and boldlj consigned 
them to perdition when they thwarted it. The pope, 
Pius the seventh, seems to have obtained universally 
the character of a humane, unambitious man : he is 
however too submissive and indifferent a character 
even to excite the ordinary curiosity of a Protestant tra- 
veller : for those who look upon his religious authority 
as an usurpation, can allow him no pre-eminent merit 
for the negative amiableness of his disposition ; and, 
when freed from extraneous considerations, a mere 
common mind invested with the supreme power of 
Rome, can never be looked upon without a secret dis- 
gust, so shaded and diminished, as it must be, by the 
the ruins of ancient greatness. 

Rome. — February 18. As this is one of the days on 
which the public cabinets in the Vatican, and the two 
great palaces on the square of the Capitol, are opened 
every week, we paid another visit in the morning to 
one of the latter, namely, the great Museum. I have 
postponed the few remarks which I intended to make 
on this noble collection of antiques, until the princi- 
pal places from which they have been taken should 
have been described, for fear of throwing more of 
confusion than interest upon the subject ; and now 
indeed it will be necessary to confine our view to 
a few particulars, and not attempt to embrace the 
whole at once. 

On entering the Capitoline Museum, a large foun-^ 
tain is seen in a court behind, ornamented with an 
ancient colossal statue representing, it is supposed, 
the river Rhine ; and on both sides of the lower part 
of the passage, as well as in the adjacent apartments, 
among crowds of antiques from all quarters, are nu- 
merous Egyptian statues of different forms and preten- 
sions: high-shouldered gods, goddesses and mortals, 

41 



322 RoivrE. 

made of granite and porphyry, and principally brought 
from the ruins of Adrian's villa near Tivoli. The 
number and size of these objects, together with the 
extreme hardness of the materials, served but to add 
anew to the astonishment with which we had before 
regarded the luxury and extravagance of that empe- 
ror. The wails of the great staircase are lined with 
the fragments of a marble floor, formerly belonging to 
the temple of Remus, in the Forum, of which mention 
has already been made. It still bears the marks of a 
map of the city, engraved on it about the time of 
Caracalla, of which however very little is now intel- 
ligible. 

Here we entered the great hall of the second floor, 
which, like that of the Vatican, presents a long vista 
between two lines of statues, marble coffins, relievos 
and urns, closely arranged for want of room. In the 
first upper chamber we entered, several coffins, or 
sarcophagi, covered all over with deep sculpture, 
attracted our attention on account of their mythologi- 
cal meaning; but the most interesting objects were 
the marble slabs plastered into the walls, which, to 
the number of about an hundred, had been brought 
from the sepulchres on the Appian Way. Some of 
them were indicated by our book as those found in 
the truly picturesque tomb of Julia's freed men, which 
have been carefully deciphered and described by a 
learned antiquary. The others were picked up for- 
tuitously along the road, and many of them which are 
preserved entire, have no other interest than as the 
memorials of unknown and humble individuals who 
lived and died so many centuries ago. Yet in the 
present case, this very uncertainty was itself enough, 
it produced so deep a contrast with the language of 
the epitaphs, which still preserved all its original 



ROME. 



323 



force ; and it was affecting to find them retaining strong 
expressions of grief and touching lamentations, just as 
they were wrung from the mourners in all the poig- 
nancy of newly inflicted sufferings, so long after the 
voice of sorrow had been hushed for ever, and the 
mourners themselves had been in their turn laid at 
rest, lamented and forgotten. Wherever the eye 
turned it glanced on such broken expressions as 
these : " D. M." (or Diis Manibus,) ..." Optimi filii," 
..." Carissimse conjugis," ..." Juliae sorroris amatae, 
hoc saxum, cum multis lachrymis, posu" — [" In memo- 
ry of the best of sons," — " To my dear wife ;"] and 
a little beyond, on a small, unpretending slab of mar- 
ble, were the names of four brothers, two of which I 
think were Caius and Publius, succeeded by : " In 
memory of Julia, our dear sister, we have placed this 
stone, with many tears." 

It is by memorials like these that we learn to take a 
more affectionate interest in the history, the fate of 
Rome, than we ever acquire by distant and general 
reflections on her greatness and glory. And of what 
value is that greatness or glory, what the worth of that 
fame which glittered on the helmets of her armies and 
swelled the pride of her emperors, when compared 
with what were too often their only effects on the 
humble but suffering victims of injustice and war? 
Here we learn to despise what our old Roman instruc- 
tors taught us to admire : the splendour of an empty 
name ; and begin to sympathise from our souls, not with 
the descent of an empire to the dust, but with the real 
distresses of the helpless, unoffending individuals who 
were involved in its ruin — with friends, children, 
mothers, husbands, and wives ; their sorrow, their 
tears, and their broken hearts. How dismal does 
death appear when we adopt for a moment the 



^^4 HOME. 

religious and moral sjstem of the ancients : when we 
look among all these epitaphs for a single hope of 
such a future world as that towards which our wishes 
are directed from infancy ! There is a purity, an ele- 
vation in the varied affections of common life, which 
must have made even the most humble of these 
Romans to revolt at the idea of consigning his dearest 
friend to the society of their " Immortal gods." The 
virtuous, the decent would blush at their characters 
even on earth, how then could they even look on the 
sky with complacency : and how could they find any 
alleviation to the keenest pangs of the heart, with 
which these sculptured stones declare, they too were 
well acquainted ? How could they, with their worth- 
less prospects, endure to see their dearest inte- 
rests trampled in the dust by fate, and their best, their 
fondest wishes carelessly thrown to the winds like 
things of no value, when even with our hopes such 
sufferings sometimes seem intolerable ? 

One whole apartment, which we soon after entered, 
is devoted to the busts of emperors, which have been 
collected in abundance, although in some cases there 
is a great scarcity of such memorials, on account of 
the popular indignation which often showed itself at 
the death of those monsters, by destroying every thing 
that was calculated to recal their injustice and cru- 
elty. A bust of Probus was for a long time wanting^ 
and that which has lately been discovered and made 
to complete the line of emperors, is supposed to be the 
only one in existence, and is of course invaluable in 
the eyes of the antiquaries. The next room is filled 
with the busts of philosophers ; and that of Virgil 
occupies the first place in the third, which is the 
chamber of the poets. The remaining apartments 
need scarcely be mentioned, or the numerous objects 




A C(DmmiID(D)M. ©]F TIKIS C(D)IL(D)SS.IST[JIMI 



KOME. 325 

• 

they contain, including the statues of Antinous, the 
Dying Gladiator, &;c. and the finest antique Mosaic, 
representing three doves drinking from a goblet, from 
Adrian's Villa, and supposed by many to be the iden- 
tical one mentioned by Pliny and brought from Hali- 
carnassus. 

On returning to the city, I heard that the Pope had 
published another proclamation, in which he stated, 
apparently with considerable alarm, that there were re- 
ports of three simultaneous insurrections in different 
parts of his dominions; but declared that he placed 
entire confidence in the love and fidelity of his sub- 
jects. It is whispered however, that this report is coun- 
tenanced only to obtain an excuse for placing the for- 
tresses of the country into the hands of the Austrians, 
who are still on their march. 

Rome, February 19. — At Titus's Arch we found seve- 
ral labourers at work, in the employment of a French- 
man, who has obtained leave of the government to 
search about the foundations of that structure, for w hat 
purpose I know not. They had uncovered several large 
blocks of stone on which it rests, as well as a pave- 
ment, about five feet below that of the Sacred Way, 
made of the same materials and in the same manner. 
One of the men offered me a copper coin of Trajan, 
exactly like that I had obtained at Tivoli, which he 
declared he had found on that spot ; but his price 
was too exorbitant. 

A little shower coming suddenly up, I stepped into 
the corridors of the Colosseum, where I observed par- 
ticularly some of the old brick water-channels under 
the floors, still in perfect order. I found here a num- 
ber of galley-slaves at work, bringing brick and mortar 
for repairs, which are continually carried on among 
the ruins by the Pope. It is well known that the 



i]26 liOME. 

• 

stone walls and columns of this immense structure were 
laid without mortar, being fastened only by cramps 
of bronze, and that the barbarians, at the destruction 
of Rome, defaced them in all parts in getting out the 
metal. 1 had supposed that they had removed them 
all, and that the weight and proportions of the Colos- 
seum were what preserved it from falling to the 
ground ; but I found that the stones were still well 
fastened, for where some workmen were removing an 
imperfect block, they were obliged first to cut off a 
strong metallic bolt, by which it was secured inter- 
nally. 

Returning to the Capitoline Hill, I mounted to 
the church of St. Maria Aracoeli, which stands 
on the northern summit, considerably higher than 
the Capitol Square, and occupies the site of the 
Temple of Jupiter-with-the-quiver, where those who 
triumphed used to ascend on foot, and deposit Ihe 
spoils of their enemies. From the side towards the 
Campus Martins it is attained by a long staircase of 
an hundred and twenty-four steps, made of blocks of 
white marble, obtained like almost every thing else 
we see, from ancient Rome. The church is very large 
andsplendidly decorated, though the columns have lit- 
tle in common except that they support the same roof; 
for they were collected from unknown ruins in the 
immediate vicinity, and arranged with little expense 
and great contempt of method : the tall ones some- 
times wanting a base, and the defects of the short 
ones being ill concealed by a mean capital of gilt 
wood. 

While casting a hasty glance at some paper legs and 
arms and hearts, pictures and crutches, which covered 
the walls of a chapel of St. Antonio, a young friar 
came up to me of his own accord, and rather officious- 



ROME. 327 

ly began a description of those singular objects. I 
tried to look serious, and to answer discreetly a few 
questions he put to me on the subject of modern mira- 
cles, in a low tone of voice and with an equivocal 
expression of countenance : but somehow or other my 
mind seemed to have lost every faculty except that of 
ridiculous contrast : for his plain brown dress, the 
knotted cord round his waist, and the seriousness of 
the subject arrayed themselves against the young, full- 
fed, thoughtless face, the free-thinking blue eye, and 
the scoffing soul that looked through it. Besides, there 
was something really ludicrous in the rude little 
pictures to which he directed my attention : an old 
man lowered down in a sheet, from the window of 
a house all on fire ; a man run over by a black horse ; 
another with a comic expression of face, just bidden to 
stand by three robbers ; and a family of five tumbling 
out of a cart. The friar perceived the workings of 
my mind, in spite of myself ; for hastily saying some- 
thing which might be considered half of an apology, 
he disappeared, leaving me to think of the Clerk of 
Copmanhurst, and to reflect how much more his 
appearance spoke of wine and venison, than of " holy 
water and dried peas." 

My friends, who had pursued a different route, took 
shelter from the shower in the gateway of a palace, 
where they formed an acquaintance with a French 
traveller, arrived yesterday from Naples, who told 
them that the Neapolitans appear to be almost mad ; 
for although the Austrians are approaching, and they 
have taken no effectual measures for opposing their en^ 
trance into the kingdom, the city is full of gaiety, and 
the masquerades, which have already begun, are car^ 
ried on with as much spirit as if it were a season of 
perfect quiet. 



328 ROME. 

Rome, February 20. — The Viminal Hill occupies the^ 
north-eastern corner of the city, and that we made the 
principal scene of our antiquarian researches for the 
day. It is principally devoted to vineyards and villas, 
of the last of which there are several of no small ex- 
tent and richness, both within and without the walls. 
On the left we passed the Gardens of Sallust, and 
numerous old arches which are the remains of his 
theatre. 

The ancient Praetorian Camp is at the extremity of 
the city in that direction ; and nearer are the fields in 
which the offending Vestals were buried alive. The 
most interesting remnant of antiquity in this part of 
the city, however, and one of the very largest in all 
Rome, is the ruins of Diocletian's Baths. These are 
situated on the western brow of the Viminal, which 
here appeared superior in height to all the other hills, 
and afforded a commanding view in that direction. A 
broad and fine terrace extends from the steep verge of 
the hill back to a long range of imposing walls and 
arches, which at first view appear like the original 
front of the baths ; but all this space is said to have 
been enclosed by the enormous edifice, and indeed 
the two churches we saw near the spot which is sup- 
posed to have been its western boundary, were evi-» 
dently formed in some of its ancient walls. 

On approaching the mighty brick arches which had 
first caught our eyes, we perceived that they also had 
to some extent been devoted to uses very far from 
their original object: for they not only furnish grana^ 
ries, but a long row of small dwellings, a monastery, 
and a fine church. The church was locked, and 
we had to knock a long time for a conductor at a 
wooden gate, which with some difficulty succeeded in 
closing the passage of a fine arch, The keys were 



ROME. 



329 



in the pockets of brother somebody, and he was 
asleep. Indeed he delayed so long that it seemed as 
if he never intended to rise : but he came at last, and 
ushered us into a magnificent vaulted hall of the baths, 
still entire in spite of its age, and retaining much of 
its original appearance above, in spite of the nume- 
rous architectural and religious decorations it has re- 
ceived in modern times — the first from the designs of 
Michael Angelo, the others from the hands of wealthy 
individuals. Eight fine Egyptian granite columns, 
placed there to support the roof in ancient times, still 
retain their situations, although their bases and part 
of their shafts have been concealed by the elevation 
of the floor several ket^ which was rendered necessa- 
ry by the water which covered it ; and the hall has been 
extended on the four sides, so that it is now 336 feet 
long and 308 wide. Here were several chapels richly 
ornamented ; but the sullen gloom and silence which 
reigned around gave the whole a melancholy aspect. 
The polished marble pavement so richly spread before 
the great altar, the precious parti-coloured stones of 
which it was built, and the splendid display of reli- 
gious emblems and vessels with which it was covered, 
seemed to have been collected here only to show the 
worthlessness rather than the value of such unappro- 
priated wealth; the pictures, which are the originals 
brought from St. Peter's, seemed to hang as if con- 
signed to neglect and decay; and the pale marble 
statues fixed their sightless eyes upon each other, as if 
to inquire the cause of our unexpected intrusion. In- 
deed the motionless form of an image seemed but an 
epitome of the whole impression of this scene : for 
while all the neighbouring population could never 
require half the room in the smallest of the five 
churches built in these ruins, there were perhaps 

42 



330 



liOME. 



riches enough in this alone, to feed all the hungry, 
and clothe all the beggars in Rome. 

The priest opened a door, and ushered us into the 
adjoining convent — all except Mrs. , for it is con- 
trary to the rules to admit any but men ; and here was a 
beautiful square court, surrounded by cells for no less 
than two hundred monks, although, since the times of 
of the French, the actual number has been reduced to 
five. In front of the cells ran a beautiful white colon- 
nade all round the square ; and the ground was devo- 
ted to a garden, kept in good order, and filled with 
plants and shady trees, among which were several tali 
cypresses, with spreading tops like a dark canopy. 
In short, such was the attractive retirement and beauty 
of the spot, that the first thought it inspired was some- 
thing about a choice library, and the first expression, 
a warm eulogy on a monastic life. When we reflected 
on the numerous ills which awaited our return to the 
world, it was natural to linger; but when we saw the 
obsequiousness of our guide, and the small reward at 
which it was aimed, we were perfectly willing to depart. 

Being confined at home this evening by the cold and 
blustering weather, which threatens a long storm, I 
have been forced to confine my study of Rome to what 
I can find within doors. Fortunately I have been fa- 
voured by circumstances; for one or two neighbours 
having dropped in to visit our friendly old host and 
hostess, they seized the opportunity to return the invi- 
tation we gave them the other evening. The apart- 
ment in which this small party met, is indeed on the 
jgecond story, but it is still the kitchen; and with a 
corresponding air of plainness and hospitality, a large 
wooden table in the middle of the floor was furnished 
with some sweetmeats, crostata, (or a sort of pie,) 
small hard cakes, and wine ; while some brands in the 



ROME. 331 

Wide fire-place were making a lively blaze, well pro- 
portioned to the blustering night without. At our en- 
trance, there was a look of welcome from the faces of 
our friends ; and it will never be forgotten of the old 
lady, that she brought up so strongly to recollection 
the matronly features of a chosen friend of my boy- 
hood, whose gentle precepts and amiable smile may 
perhaps have drawn me away too often from those 
brilliant subjects which others so much esteem, to 
those more things humble she would unquestionably 
have approved. Assured by such sparkles in the eyes 
we had learned to appreciate in a distant country, we 
cheerfully took our seats at the left hand of our host 
for that was evidently expected of us ; and looked 
around us with that peculiar thrill we feel when the 
blood starts off in the highest style, and we feel supe- 
rior to kings and nobles, and on better ground than 
that on which they ever hold dominion over us — I mean 
over others. 

I had never dreamed of finding in Rome any of that 
republican equality which we practise so much in our 
New England villages : but one of the servants, a wo- 
man from a town in the mountains, who at first sat spin- 
ning by the fire, afterwards took a seat near the table, 
and joined with familiarity and without rebuke, in the 
conversation and mirth of the party. Indeed it is 
clear, that among the middhng class of society here, 
servants are sometimes allowed to claim the privileges 
of members of the family, and the affectionate regard 
of children. The one in question appeared like a 
personage of no small consequence from her dress : 
indeed if a stranger were to judge from that alone, he 
would have pronounced her a princess at least. She 
wore a bright figured gown, and a scarlet boddice or 
stomacher, with narrow ribbons flying from the arms 



332 KOME. 

and shoulders. She spun, according to the universal 
custom in this country, (excepting only one little wheel 
I noticed in the Jews' quarter,) with a distaff made of 
a split reed, fastened to her side, and a heavy spindle 
which she twirled with her right hand. Now all this 
detail might have been withheld, but for an accidental 
remark that she was a " forastiera," or foreigner, dif- 
fering from the Romans no less in dialect than in cos- 
tume, and being a native of the small town of 

dei Sabini. The first part of the name I have forgot- 
ten ; but what 1 have written means of the Sabines ; and 
we were told distinctly that she was a Sabinese, or 
Sabine. Romulus, it seems then, was not able to form 
so complete an amalgamation between the different 
tribes of which his kingdom was composed, as he in- 
tended, and probably supposed ; for the Sabine name 
is still distinguished from the Roman, although the 
ancient unity and friendliness still subsist between the 
females, which was first contracted when the Sabine 
women rushed between the two armies, and prevented 
the shedding of blood between their fathers and hus- 
bands. 

The conversation having turned upon the various 
dialects of the neighbourhood, we were told that al- 
most every village had something peculiar, either in 
words, phrases, or pronunciation ; and heard some 
satirical strictures on the language of the Trasteverini, 
or people on the other side of the Tiber; who, how- 
ever singular it may appear to one of our enterprising 
and locomotive nation, preserve many striking pecu- 
liarities from age to age, in spite of all the changes of 
the world, and the narrowness of the Tiber, which 
alone separates them from the proud inhabitants of 
Rome proper. The Neapolitans came in for their full 
share of reproach and ridicule. They were denounced 



ROME. 333 

as "great thieves," cowards, and braggarts, without 
serious intentions of doing any thing for themselves ; 
their licentious conduct, when in Rome under the 
French, was recalled with indignation; and their lan- 
guage was ridiculed by one or two who had some know- 
ledge of their drawling tones. 

Rome, February 21. — ft snowed a little an evening 
or two since, but the tlakes melted on touching the 
ground. Snow is not uncommon, yet it seldom lies 
more than two or three days; though about fourteen 
years ago it fell to the depth of a foot and a half 

A report was spread this morning, that the vanguard 
of the Austrians were just outside of the walls ; but 
on our way towards the Gate of the People, we learnt 
that the story was without foundation ; so turning aside 
we stopped at the modelling room of Canova. At the 
door we met an old man, who was just coming out, in 
a very plain dress rather soiled, and an old hat bent 
in on one side ; and were not a little surprised when, on 
turning his face towards us, he showed strongly marked 
features with a thoughtful eye, and our friend introdu- 
ced us to the Marquis Canova — that Apelles of modern 
times. There was something in his face and voice, as 
well as in his figure, motions, and manners, which pro- 
duced an impression entirely different from those of a 
stranger; yet it required much reflection before 1 could 
trace out the resemblance to any satisfactorily original, 
and it was not until a confusion of ideas had passed 
through my mind, connecting sculpture, painting, and 
poetry, in new and agreeable forms, that I at last re- 
called our countryman, the author of " M'Fingal." 
I We saw a fine model of a horse, of such a size that 
we could walk under it without stooping. It is for 
an equestrian statue of the king of Naples. Canova 
spoke of his statue of Washington in such a manner 



334 ROME. 

as to prove that he was proud of it, and I thought his 
eyes sparkled at the recollection of a new world be- 
yond the Atlantic, now coveting his works and offering 
him its fame. 

Ill-contented to consider the little spring of water 
we tasted so formally the other day, as the fountain of 
Egeria, I set off after noon once more to seek it ; and 
left the Appian Way some distance outside of the 
gate, by turning to the right. My path soon took 
to winding through pastures and clustered trees, so 
that for a time not an object in sight bore any parti- 
cular reference to ancient or modern Rome, but awa- 
kened recollections connected with many distant rural 
scenes of the same homely, yet agreeable character. 
On a gentle eminence appeared at length the little 
temple of the god Ridicule, in the midst of a sheep 
pasture. It is of brick, and nearly entire externally, 
although the interior is ruinous. The place was quite 
lonely ; for a house adjoining, with its little battlement- 
ed walls, was as deserted as the temple, and I wan- 
dered about them both without perceiving any signs of 
inhabitants. 

Toward the south is the entrance to the valley of 
Egeria ; not a shady dell, rough with rocks and dark 
with trees, as one would naturally hope to find it, but 
a broad, sunny tract of ground, between two long, 
naked hills, nearly half a mile apart. The Grotto of 
the Nymph is at the base of that on the right hand, 
in a spot not indicated even by a path, and to which 
I was guided principally by a little rill from that foun- 
tain, which was regarded with reverence by the Ro- 
mans, even as early as when it was the favourite re- 
treat of Numa Pompilius. Uniting with many other 
little streams that trickle from the hills, the Egerian 
fountain helps to form a considerable brook, which 



ROME. 335 

runs with a precipitate course down the valley, and 
more than once impeded my way. A few masses of 
ruin were scattered here and there, as notices of the 
ancient inhabitants of the place; and notwithstanding 
its present desolate condition, it may have worn a very 
agreeable appearance when covered with groves, and 
somewhat improved by art. The grotto in its pre- 
sent state has many of the qualities of a beautiful 
ruin : the front of the arched roof having fallen in, 
an imperfect restoration was attempted by the bushes 
and vines, which hung over and half concealed it ; 
one of the empty niches in the walls was furnished 
with a pedestal of fresh grass, fertihzed by the drip- 
ping fountain ; while at the farthest end of the grotto, 
a mutilated recumbent statue of the nymph seemed 
contemplating the past, among the broken shadows in 
the water, which overspread the floor. 

It was nearly sunset, and there was no time for exa- 
mining the caverns among the broken ledges of rock, ap- 
pearing here in several places on the opposite hill-side. 
Those secret and gloomy retreats were frequently re- 
sorted to by the Christians, as places for sepulture as 
well as for concealment and prayer ; and the some- 
what romantic ideas with which 1 had regarded this 
imagined seat of the Muses, were quite awed and 
dispersed, while the superstitions once connected 
with this little cavern, ranged themselves in contrast 
with the pure and simple worship of the true God. 

The Austrians are expected here to-morrow, but 
only the staff-officers are to be admitted within the 
walls. An army of twenty or thirty thousand men 
encamped will be a fine sight — provided we can forget 
that they are the descendants of barbarians and that we 
are in Rome. It is reported that the Neapolitans have 
entered the Pope's territory in three places, and that 



336 ^c>ME. 

many of the Austrians, being Carbonari, have refused 
to fight them; but rumours are so contradictory that 
we can hardly say we beheve any thing about it. 

Rome, February/ 23. — Direcfing our course towards 
the soutlierii p:.rt of the city this morning, we left the 
Tiber and ascended a rough path, to that angle of the 
Aventine Hill which looks down the stream. Here 
stands the church of St. Mary of the Priory, so named 
after an institution of that description belonging to 
the Knights of Malta, which formerly occupied the 
ground ; and a little terrace before it, defended from 
the precipice by a low wall, affords a commanding 
view over the vineyards which extend with little in- 
terruption to the southern wall of the city, the sub- 
burbs, and the Campagna. The spot receives some 
farther interest from a tradition, that it was the site 
of the Temple of Bona Dea, and previously the 
place to which Remus used to resort to consult the 
auguries, by watching the flight of birds. Descending 
the Aventine towards the south-east, we found the soil 
intimately mingled with the ruins of ancient buildings,; 
and in some places along the path, old walls of consi^ 
derable thickness peeped above the surface. 

Monte Testaccio, which we had seen from this hill 
near the city wall and about a mile distant, is a speci- 
men of geology that might claim kindred with those 
ancient mounds which travellers have encountered on 
the plains of Shinar. It is a hill of considerable size, 
entirely formed of broken earthen ware. This is 
almost incredible, but it is even still more true. The 
ground for nearly half a mile before we arrived at its I 
base, was all strewn with such fragments ; and although i 
we had almost resolved to persevere in our scepticism, 
we were soon forced to confess, that the hill was un- 
doubtedly formed of the old jars and bottles broken 



HOME. 337 

by the ancient Romans — or shall I say it? by their care- 
less servants. This curious eminence, by our estima- 
tion, is about a mile in circuit at the base, and at least 
one hundred and Mtj feet high. As we began the 
ascent, we perceived several little precipices here 
and there, breaking the coat of short turf with which 
most of the surface was covered. They might have 
been taken at a little distance for ledges of natural 
rock ; but all proved to be piles of broken crockery, 
loose, unmixed with any other substance, and as hard 
as ever. By removing the turf in other places with 
a stick, the soil proved to be exceedingly thin ; and 
all below, a mass of rubbish. On the top, where a 
wooden cross is erected, is a small plain a quarter of 
a mile in circumference, which is divested of all vege- 
tation, except the thin grass and a single little bush ; 
and a portion of it, measuring about fifty yards across, 
was entirely divested even of that slight covering. 
Here was nothing but the fragments of earthen ves- 
sels, great and small, thick and thin, with various de- 
grees of convexity, and some with the remains pf bro- 
ken ears and handles. The durability of this sort of 
ware is abundantly proved by the small effect the 
weather has produced, even on these pieces which are 
so much exposed to it. Those which appeared to have 
suffered most were on the surface, and were only 
roughened and discoloured to a certain depth, but 
grown if any thing harder than ever, and lay under 
our feet, with scarcely a particle of dust to be seen, 
and rattli^ at every step like a craTe of crockery. 

The highest summit is so elevated that it commands 
an extensive view; yet there is no tradition of the 
cause, or the period of the creation of this hill. Large 
excavations have been made in it for the wine vaults 
of the city : and the buildings connected with them are 

43 



338 ROME. 

half built of the broken ware thrown out in digging. 
At the distance of a quarter of a mile, and near the 
city wall and the tomb of Caius Cestius, we examined 
a deep trench just dug, which has struck upon an 
ancient drain; and here the soil was scattered with 
broken jars, stones, bricks and marbles, even to the 
depth of twentj-five feet. 

The little burjing-ground for the Protestants, i& 
close by this spot ; and after passing the low, briery 
hedge which surrounds it, we were affected at the sight 
of a beautiful marble monument to an American lady : 
" Eliza Georgiana Watson, wife of Grenville Temple^ 
haronet, a native of Massachusetts, in the United States 
of America." 

As we returned through the Corso, workmen were 
employed in putting up long stages, to support seata- 
for spectators at the approaching masquerades ; and 
the shop-doors were crowded with a display of party- 
coloured dresses to sell or to let, with a grim show of 
masks of all descriptions. 

Rome, February 24. — The Corso was swept ihm 
morning by galley slaves, and overspread with red 
earth brought on the backs of donkies. Chairs were 
ranged in long rows on both sides, and at two o'clock 
a few persons with masks began to skip about among 
the gathering crowds. At four, coaches were driving 
byvon a slow walk, in twa lines, one going down the 
street and the other up; some of them filled witbj 
masks, and others with persons in their richest dresses ; 
and it soon became dangerous, as well as difficult to^ jj 
walk among them. That most ridiculous of amuse- 
ments, throwing of sugar plumbs, now commenced, f 
Many of the persons on foot and at the windows had 
provided themselves with that kind of artillery ; and 
whenever they perceived any of their acrjuaintancet- 



ROME. 339 

within a moderate distance, discharged them by hand- 
fuls point blank into their faces. Sometimes they were 
thrown with such precision and effect, as to dispel 
a fixed and intolerable simper from the face of a 
conscious beauty ; and sometimes rattled like hail, 
against a row of masks of various comical expres- 
sions, and bounded upon the pavement. There they 
were eagerly sought by herds of noisy little boys, 
whose avidity to hoard them clearly showed, not only 
that they too had been made acquainted with the 
Pope's proclamation, but that they found it strictly 
obeyed. 

The whole scene, however, was the gayest and 
most splendid we had ever witnessed. The street is 
straight, about a mile and a half long, and regular- 
ly built with many spacious palaces on both sides^ 
from the windows of which, the housekeepers and 
servants had ostentatiously displayed their whole 
stock of scarlet and crimson silk counterpanes to 
wave in the wind. To this garnishing of the dark 
walls were added the brilliant dresses of a thou- 
sand gay, smiling groups of ladies, who crowded the 
windows and balconies; while an endless variety of 
faces passing more nearly before the eyes, half dis- 
tracted the mind. Maskers dressed for harlequins, 
Punches, and many incomprehensible and indescriba- 
ble fantastics, were hurrying and dancing by, speak* 
ing in disguised voices, and playing the most ludicrous 
tricks ; and when the crowd thickened, and the long 
rows of seats became filled by thlf motley multitude, 
a glance to the right or left was like looking in a mul- 
tiplying mirror, for there was nothing to be seen but 
whole legions of faces, wearing the broadest signs 
of mirth. 

At length the hour arrived for an exhibition we had 
heard spoken of with respect by some of the natives ; 



340 mUE. 

and as a preparatory act, the Corso waj^ cleared of 
coaches at the signal of firing a gun, after which a 
party of dragoons galloped down, to keep the pedes- 
trians in bodily fear of encroaching upon the line. 
Four horses were led out soon after into the Square 
of the People, which however was nearly a mile dis- 
tant from us, and prepared for a race. It is not the 
fashion to give them riders on such occasions, and the 
poor creatures were in consequence very humanely 
furnished out with little gilt balls, stuck full of pins and 
fastened to their backs by strings, to supply the place 
of spurs, without which it is to be doubted whether 
either of them would have had spirit enough to reach 
the goal. When at length they were started off, they 
hobbled on so sorrowfully and at such melancholy dis- 
tances, that it was pitiable to see them ; yet tumultuous 
shouts accompanied them from the crowds of people, 
masked and unmasked, who lined the street on each 
side with a wall of human heads. 

This was an appropriate conrhision to an exhibition 
of the most unmeaning and frivolous nature ; and i^ 
hardly seems credible, on recalhng the scenes of the 
day, that any but children could have endured them 
at all. It would certainly seem ridiculous to us in 
America, to find a whole city assembled to mask and 
throw sugar-plumbs : playing marbles would be manly 
compared with it. Yet it must be confessed that this 
part of the show is as rational as those savage sports 
which are indulged in England, and in some parts of 
our own country, al^d certainly far more humane. 

We were yesterday deb berating whether to prolong 
our stay at Rome or to set off immediately for Flo- 
rence, having received very glowing accounts of the 
splendours of the carnival from our hostess, who would 
hardly have felt more pride in the city of Romulus, if 
she had lived in the Augustan age. She has never I 



ftOME. 341 

believe been farther from home than the neighbouring 
mountains, yet she boldly pronounces that there is 
hardly another city in the world worthy of the name ; 
and here she is joined by her whole family, and 1 
know not how many neighbours. Florence, they 
assure us, is not worth seeing, even during the carni- 
val, for they have no St. Peter's and no Pope: indeed 
Florence can never be any thing, as it never was great 
in ancient times, and has no ruins to boast of In the 
last idea we fully concur ; but after what we have this 
day witnessed, we shrink from the thought of remain- 
ing to see a repetition of those scenes which have al- 
ready quite disgusted us. We reverence the greatness 
of the ancients, if we do not love them ; but we are 
already convinced that the Corso is not the place to 
acquire esteem or respect for the moderns ; and 
under the influence of these reasons it is, that we have 
taken places in a vettura, which sets off for Florence 
day after to-morrow, leaving the degenerate '^ Senate 
and People of Rome," to play the fool by them- 
selves. 

Rome, February 25. — The modern Capitol is on the 
whole so mean a building, with its cheap wood-work 
and little columns covered with painted canvass, the 
decorations of its principal hall, that it disgraces the 
foundation on which it stands. A girl showed us the 
way up a winding staircase to the top, which over- 
looks a great part of the city, and affords a better 
general view than any other point, over the regions in 
its vicinity. The Forum lay just below, with the Co- 
losseum beyond ; on the right was the Palatine Hill, 
with the Tiber running behind it ; and on the left, 
over a cluster of houses, the crooked Esquiline Hill. 

The Palatine recals the foundation of the city, to- 
gether with many institutions and events rendered 



342 ^^^^^^• 

important by their long duration and extensive effects^ 
particularly the ancient code of the Twelve Tables, in 
which it seems is to consist the permanency of her 
empire. The ruins of Jupiter's Temple below us, 
speak of Augustus and his timid superstition ; the 
Arch of Titus and the Colosseum refer to the fall of 
Jerusalem, the introduction of Christianity into Rome^ 
and the undaunted spirit with which the martyrs met 
death, the only enemy that had terrors for Caesar. It 
speaks also of the dissetnination of Christianity 
through the world, and the mighty effects it has 
produced. To what event but that can we attri- 
bute the present happy state of our country ? To 
what but the influence of its principles can we trace 
those institutions for educating and governing all 
men alike ; and the erection of new states in a world 
then unknown, on principles which convey the sub- 
stance of those privileges of which the institutions of 
Rome were only the pretences ; and never, while they 
are preserved unimpaired, can conduct to that national 
degradation and ruin towards which her military am- 
bition was continually hurrying her : that gulf into 
which she was precipitated. Equally far are th^ 
genuine principles of Christianity from the abject level 
of the .modern inhabitants of this venerable scene. 
It is the neglect of its precepts, the absence of its 
spirit, which places the southern nations of Europe so 
far behind the northern ; and it is that which has pro- 
duced national differences still more glaring on the 
other side of the Atlantic. 

And does it ever appear difficult to trace these 
effects to their proper fountain-heads ? Look at yon- 
der beggar, hovering about the Arch of Titus, cau- 
tiously stepping among the polished fragments of those 
majestic columns which his ancestors brought away, 



HOME. 



343 



from conquered Egypt ; half hiding his person too 
lest the approaching stranger should avoid his rags 
and his petitions : what is necessary to make him 
what we should wish to see ? It is not his poverty : 
for that may prove the best foil to a noble mind. Ex- 
amine his history, which is read in the institutions of 
his government and his religion. In the former he is 
not permitted to have any active concern : blind sub- 
mission and obedience are to compose his character 
on this subject. But with regard to religion he is far 
more rigorously treated ; not only his conduct but his 
mind is controuled. He is not allowed to exercise his 
own judgment, nor to question for a moment the dog- 
mas of his instructors, or the authority of those who 
prescribe his duties and fix the value of his sins. He 
is taught, by the example and precept of all around 
him, to believe that the book of God is safe only in 
the hands of the priesthood ; and that they alone 
are capable of expounding it : men who are often 
known to be far more careless on the subject than 
himself, and whose lives prove them incapable and 
unfit for far less weighty and difficult matters. This 
habitual war between superstition and common sense 
must produce a distrust of his own judgment, and a men- 
tal imbecility befitting the subjects of such a system 
of religion and government; and doubtless completes 
that degradation of character which a neglected educa- 
tion at first begins. Men thus become fitted for exactly 
such a state of things as exists in this country ; and 
could they be transported across the Atlantic, would 
be as great anomalies, as Americans are in Rome. It 
seems incredible that a system of divine origin could 
ever have produced effects like these ; and the indi- 
vidual and national improvement in Protestant coun- 
tries, is a strong practical argument in favour of the 
soundness of their principles. 



344 HOME, 

Late in the afternoon we crossed the Tiber, and 
entered St. Peter's. As usual the first impression was 
that of desertion, and for a moment we were not aware 
of the presence of any thing, except the ranges of stu- 
pendous columns on each side of us. There were 
however a great many persons in the church, some 
kneehng before the statues of saints, some clustered 
around the confession-boxes, and others walking 
about ; though to us they appeared no larger than 
bees and butterflies creeping over the marble floor. 
In passing through the side aisles also we observed se- 
veral schools of children, ranged in the corners and 
reciting their catechism to priests, some of whom 
attempted to excite a smile in us as we stopped to 
listen, with such tart questions and remarks as school- 
masters often repeat, and pupils never venture to 
reply to. 

The pictures of saints and prophets looked down 
upon us from the great Mosaics which hung against 
the columns ; and the pedagogues might sit or lean 
against monumental pedestals, surmounted by statues 
and sculptured with the armorial devices and unno- 
ticed inscriptions of popes and cardinals, kings and 
princesses, whose costly sepulchres lay deep below. 
All this time an indistinct sound, like distant voices 
confusedly mingled together, had been heard, but 
hardly remarked, in the vaulted roof far above our 
heads ; and it was only by accident that we disco- 
vered the place from which they proceeded. A ser- 
vice was performing in one of the chapels on that 
side, which was so small that we had passed the door 
without particularly noticing it, and yet large enough 
to contain several hundred persons, who appeared to 
have assembled principally for the sake of the music. 
A large choir of men were at the moment in the midst 
of an anthem, and certainly made the best vocal 



ROAD TO FLORENCE. 345 

music I had ever heard. It was the sound of their 
voices, in company with a fine organ, which we had 
heard so feebly echoed from the roof, and whose origi- 
nal fulness and power had become entirely exhausted 
by rising to that dizzy height. 

The approach of evening warned us of home; but we 
lingered long about the door, before we could per- 
suade ourselves to pass it for the last time. About 
seventy and an hundred feet from it, lines are drawn 
upon the pavement, to show the comparative length 
of the two next greatest churches in Europe : St. 
Paul's in London and St. Sophia's in Constantinople. 
After we had passed by these the eastern wall was still 
far beyond us, and the view to the opposite end of 
the church still uninterrupted. The setting sun was 
shining in at the great window, and after streaming 
through the dusty air, its light fell upon the pavement 
not far from the spot where we stood ; and willing to 
preserve the memory of St. Peter's at a moment like 
this, we left the place just before it disappeared. 

At a post-house on the Campagna, February 26, at 
noon. — This morning at six o'clock, the carriage in 
which we had taken seats came along, drawn by four 
mules, that walked quietly up street and stopped at 
our door ; and when our baggage was stowed, we had 
taken leave of our hearty friends, and were seated 
with two young men from the Adriatic and an old 
Bolognese farmer ; a spruce young Tuscan vetturino, 
Vicenzo by name, cracked his whip and we all set off 
for Florence. The morning was clear and pleasant, 
and did all that weather could do to counteract the 
melancholy thoughts so natural at passing the walls^ 
and taking a final adieu of the immortal city. 

From the Gate of the People we travelled some 
time along the ancient Via Flaminia, the stones of 

U 



346 ROAD TO FLORENCE. 

which are built into the walls of vineyards on both 
sides ; and among three or four large ancient tombs, 
we stopped a moment to examine that of Nero. It 
preserves its original square form, is still surmounted 
with an altar, and contains an inscription, which we 
were prevented from reading, by the unprovoked 
fierceness of several dogs guarding a herd of cattle in 
the surrounding field. 

Three miles from the city we crossed Ponte Molle^ 
the ancient Milvian Bridge, built in the year of Rome 
645. At this place the Austrians were said to be 
encamped several days ago : but there were as yet no 
signs of them here, nor even from the long hills be- 
yond, over which we travelled for some hours. Like 
other parts of the Campagna, this tract was almost 
entirely destitute of habitations and enclosures ; and 
ibr a long time before we reached this post-house, we 
did not pass a single dwelling. Here and there were 
the ruins of old square towers and battlemented walls, 
which served to remind us of the barbarism which 
had flowed into Italy with the Goths and Vandals, and 
to make us melancholy at the thoughts that we had 
left the ancient seat of the arts, and were bound to a 
country once so prolific in uncivilized nations. 

At a little turn in the road, twenty well mounted 
dragoons suddenly appeared in sight, and came on in 
military order. They wore suits of grey, steel hel- 
mets, sabres and pistols, with carabines hung at their 
backs. Their horses were uncommonly fine : and not 
only their dress, but their weather-beaten faces, and 
the circumstance that many of them had light com^ 
plexions and light hair, proved that they were not 
Roman soldiers. Our party seemed surprised at their 
appearance, and observed a strict silence as they ap- 
proached. Vicenzo made all haste to get our lumbering 



KOAD TO FLORENCE. ,34>J 

equipage out of the path ; and when they had trotted 
by, turned round in his saddle, shrugged his shoulders, 
and said in a timid voice, " Tudeschi !" [Austrians :] 
then, after watching them a moment, exclaimed with 
enthusiasm, " Ma che bei cavalli !" [But what beauti- 
ful horses.] There was something very impressive 
even in this small body of troops, when we consider- 
ed them as the precursors of a powerful army, march- 
ing to subjugate a kingdom. 

When we reached the post-house, we found the 
Austrians the subject of conversation. The inn- 
keeper seasons our cheer with an inn-keeper's re- 
flections, the cook and kitchen-maids are panic- 
struck, and our companions have swallowed appre- 
hension with their soup. From the spacious kitchen 
a door opens into the stable, which is occupied by 
horses and mules at their mangers, and by a poor 
woman, who sits by the fire-place in one corner, 
warming herself and hoping she shall reach home be- 
fore the arrival of " the foreigners." 

A post-chaise just now drove up on its way to Rome, 
and all stood ready for the news. The postillion took 
t)ut the horses ; and while another pair was led out, 
he respectfully petitioned for the accustomed gra- 
tuity. The traveller was a stern looking man in a fur 
cap, and an old military coat of grey German cloth. 
He had spent his soldier-earnings in soldier-pleasures, 
and had little left to discharge his honest debts. *' In- 
deed sir," cried the postillion astonished, " four baioc- 
chi is very small wages for such a post driven at so 
unusual a rate." " You shall have no more," replied 
the Austrian, mangling the sweet language of the 
country with his cruel. Transalpine tongue ; and off 
he set again, express for Rome. The postillion stood 
looking after him till he was out of hearing, as if in 
him he feared the y^hole army; and then, dashing his 



348 ROAD TO rLORENCE. 

money to the ground, declared that, instead of four 
baiocchi, he would not conduct such a rascal again 
for four pauls. He next burst into a torrent of satire^ 
so well suited to the company and the occasion, that 
the whole party were speedily in a roar of laughter, 
at the emperor and the army of Austria, their ridicu- 
lous enterprise and their certain defeat. 

We have contracted with Vicenzo to take us to Flo- 
rence by the way of Terni, that we might have an op- 
portunity to see the famous cascade at that place, 
though the road through Sienna is shorter by twenty or 
thirty miles. It seems our companions are now dis- 
posed to change the route, as the postillion has brought 
news of towns and villages overrun with troops. The 
Sienna road, it is said, is quite unobstructed : but we 
have determined to persevere in our original plan, and 
instead of apprehending danger, or even giving our 
companions credit for the fears which they express, 
we anticipate much gratification from seeing the army 
on its march. 

Nepi, 10 o'clock in the evening.— Mi^v leaving the post-* 
house and riding two or three miles, we came to the 
spot where the road divides; and Vicenzo, halting his 
mules with their heads towards Sienna, inquired which 
way we would take. The handsome young advocate 
from the Adriatic, whose name is Alessandro, insisted 
with much warmth and eloquence on avoiding the 
soldiers, who, having the whole country as well as 
ourselves in their power, would doubtless impede and 
insult, and probably rob and murder us. " If you 
wish to see the marble-cascade of Terni, they have 
prints of it in Florence, which give a perfect idea of 
the place. It would be madness to run all the risques 
of that road for such an object." We persisted how- 
ever in our resolution, little respecting the pre- 
tended fears of our companions, but attributing their 



ROAD TO FLORENCE. 349 

preference of the route through Sienna to its short* 
ness ; and finally prevailed, only by declaring to 
Vicenzo, that unless he proceeded we would descend, 
return to Rome, and prosecute his master for his 
breach of contract. 

As we approached the borders of the Campagnat 
the surface became more irregular, and swelled into 
hills of a considerable size, though only a few patches 
of cultivated ground and some scattering houses were 
to be seen. On the left we soon discovered the 
glistening of a musket-barrel and bayonet on the top 
of a long, bare hill, and found that spot occupied by 
the most advanced vidette of the Austrian army. 
The road turned round at the foot of the hill, and 
brought us near a cottage with an old stone staircase 
on the outside, and a small fountain in front. Under 
the shade of some bushes close at hand, sat the nine 
remaining soldiers of the picket-guard stationed there, 
some of them busy about their knapsacks, others watch- 
ing a small pot that hung over a fire on cross sticks, 
after the fashion of the savages in Robinson Crusoe — 
their pacific employment strongly contrasted with the 
ferocious expression which their faces had received 
from the dress and habits of a soldier, their exposure 
to the weather, and above all, the long mustachios 
which extended to their cheeks. In a few minutes 
another party appeared, collected by the road-side; 
and as we proceeded, we found them more and 
more numerous. Our companions groaned : but the 
soldiers only turned their eyes upon us, and let us 
pass unquestioned. 

At length we came in sight of a small town, which 
we discovered was occupied by a considerable body 
of troops. On entering the streets, every door and 
window showed an Austrian, a musket, or a cap. Ofii- 



350 ^O^^ TO FLORENCE. 

cers were quartered in the houses of the poor inha-* 
bitants, large empty buildiDgs had been thrown open 
for barracks : and the horses were at pasture in adja- 
cent fields of young wheat. 

It was near sunset when we reached this place, 
which is an old town, on the top of a hill, surrounded 
by battlemented walls, and having, as usual, an ap- 
pearance of great antiquity in its weather-beaten 
houses and dark stone towers. Parties of soldiers 
were collected without the walls, washing their 
clothes, polishing their arms, and smoking, quite at 
their ease ; while large covered wagons, which con- 
tained ammunition and provisions, were guarded by 
sentinels ; and horses were fastened by their halters 
to long ropes, stretched from tree to tree. When we 
had passed under a dark gate and entered the town, 
we found the streets so crowded with Austrians that 
we could hardly proceed. Vicenzo stopped once or 
twice, uncertain whether he could pass through : for 
we were yet to go three miles, to reach Civita Castel- 
lana, the place specified in his contract for our first 
night's lodging. Here a man came through the crowd, 
and taking hold of the bridle, told Vicenzo it would 
be impossible to find food for the mules, or room for 
the travellers at Civita Castellana, because there were 
three thousand cavalry in that town ; and if he did 
not wish to stop all night in the streets, he had better 
turn the corner and drive to an inn which he descri- 
bed. Thither accordingly we went, and had scarcely 
entered the yard, which was half filled with soldiers, 
carriages, and horses, when our kind adviser made his 
appearance ia the character of inn-keeper. 

The country in the vicinity of this town is remark- 
ably picturesque. Just under the windows of the inn, 
the road which leads out of town runs along the side 










.Site 



©^ 



ROAD TO FLORENCE. 35I 

of a hill, defended by a low wall from a high precipice 
on the right. Below is a dark narrow valley, full two 
hundred feet deep, scattered with large rocks, broken 
and worn into irregular shapes by a stream, which 
though very small at present, sometimes swells to a 
torrent. The road crosses the valley by a bridge of 
several arches, on which is placed for the night a 
small guard of soldiers ; and behind it is a fine modern 
aqueduct, by which the town is supplied with water, 
showing its dark arches against the sky, and throwing 
long shadows over the green bank. The bridge and 
the deep dell were shaded from the sun, so that the 
fires kindled by the soldiers were beginning to shine, 
and added to the singularity of the scene. Struck 
with the spot we crossed the bridge ; and walking 
down the opposite bank, found the valley still growing 
deeper and wilder. The little patches of soil sup- 
ported on natural terraces, were partly occupied with 
vines: but below, the bottom of the valley was deeply 
shaded with large trees ; and the smoke was seen rising 
from places apparently inaccessible, where small par- 
ties of Austrian soldiers had taken up their quarters 
for the night, on the sides of precipices, under the shel- 
ter of craggy rocks. 

On returning to the inn, we found the large room 
occupied by a party of officers, who marched about 
dragging their sabres over the stone floor, and soon 
sat down to dinner, where they ate, drank, and talked 
German in excellent spirits, telling old stories, ridi- 
culing and cursing the servants, thoughtless of their 
uncertain futurity, and, to our surprise, not speaking a 
single word of Naples or Neapolitans, 

Our table was at length spread, and our fellow tra- 
vellers so far forgot their ill humour, as to laugh good 
naturedly at the camp-dinner that was served up: for, 



352 nOAD TO FLORENCE. 

after much time, a kid had been found and butchered, 
and all the variety we had was produced by frying, 
roasting, and boiling, the kid and his brains. A young 
German traveller arrived in a post-chaise, who, as he 
spoke English, soon joined our party, and contributed 
largely to the enjoyment of the evening by a fire. 
He had travelled from Nice to Genoa with our coun- 
tryman Mr. ; and the accidental mention of this 

circumstance revived a great many recollections of 
the bay of Naples, as well as of our friend, who was 
our companion there, and whose warm enthusiasm 
had thrown such additional interest over that delight- 
ful scenery. 

Otricoli, February 27, (at noon.) — We have stop- 
ped as usual for two hours, to feed our mules ; and 
as the inn is very uninviting, and the weather rainy, I 
find the most agreeable mode of occupying my time, 
since w^e have made a slight repast on such provisions 
as our larder affords, is to sit in the carriage and note 
down a short description of our morning's ride. 

Before day-break we were summoned to begin our 
journey. The stables were full of horses and German 
soldiers, all asleep and some proclaiming audibly that 
nature was not yet satisfied with the usual equiva- 
lent for the fatigues of yesterday. As we crossed 
the bridge, the glowing coals of dying fires shone on 
the fierce faces and gleaming arms of those who were 
clustered about them, some asleep, some drowsily 
guarding the entrance of the town. One of them de- 
manded our passport; and when he had read by the 
fire-hght the name of an Austrian officer, whose signa- 
ture Vicenzo had obtained last evening, he permitted 
us to proceed. We soon after entered upon an ex- 
tensive plain scattered with shrub-oaks, and farther 
on, with large oak trees. 



ROAD TO FLORENCE. 353 

Civita Castellana, three miles from Nepi, is the town 
at which we were to have lodged last night. Just be- 
fore we entered it the three thousand cavalry had 
marched out, by a different road, leaving the great 
square littered with straw, the shop-keepers counting 
their gains, and the inhabitants so nearly destitute of 
provisions, that we could obtain nothing but a little 
thick coffee, and some stale coarse bread. At this 
place a road branches off to the left, and we had the 
last opportunity to take the Sienna route. A friend 
whom our legal fellow passenger Alessandro accident- 
ally met in the street, communicated the intelligence 
of the way to Florence being thronged with troops, 
and of a large body having encamped near Terni 
yesterday, directly over the cascade, within a short 
distance of the Neapolitan territory, and within half a 
mile of a Neapolitan army. A strong attempt was 
made to induce us to give up our intended course: 
but we again threatened Vicenzo into obedience, and 
the mules were turned towards Terni, though we were 
called madmen, for travelling within five miles of a 
spot which was probably to be a field of battle in a 
day or two. We placed little confidence however in 
the representations we had heard, and were not much 
pleased with the obtrusive opinions of several stran- 
gers, who saw fit, not only to advise, but almost to 
command us. 

Close by the walls of the town we crossed a ravine 
two or three hundred feet deep, through which ran a 
brook, between broken, rocky banks, of a remarkably 
romantic appearance. The country continued per- 
fectly level as before, and quite uninhabited. On the 
hills, at a great distance, were clusters of trees and 
apparently houses : but, for several miles around us, 
we could see nothing except uncultivated fields, and 

45 



354 



ROAD to FLORENCE. 



flocks of crows and plover. At the end of the plain 
the road wound up a steep hill; and as we went down 
the other side, we overlooked a large valley, through 
which the Tiber flows with several bold turns, and 
saw Borghetto on a hill beyond, at the distance of 
nine miles. On the edge of the plain was a small hill, 
whose sides had been cut down to render more diffi- 
cult of access an old castle which occupied its top, 
probably once a place of some importance, on account 
of its vicinity to the bridge over the river. 

A range of hills beyond seemed composed of loose 
limestone pebbles, of different colours, in several 
places covered by a volcanic rock, above which, and 
near an old deserted castle, the ground sloped on all 
sides into a small circular valley, much resembling the 
crater of an extinguished volcano. 

The hills have been gradually increasing in height, 
till they now deserve the name of mountains. The 
landscape is quite gloomy, presenting only the cheer- 
less varieties of barren hills in a cloudy day, with no 
other signs of inhabitants than this wretched village, 
and another a mile off, which occupies the site of the 
ancient Otriculum. 

Terni, (in the evening.)— -Soon after leaving Otricoli, 
we got involved among the mountains as a misty rain 
began, with only two or three small clusters of houses 
in sight, surrounded with vineyards : and these were 
at such a distance, and situated so high, that it would 
have required a laborious walk of two or three hours 
to reach them. Here we were met by a party of 
Austrian dragoons, wrapt in long cloaks of white flan- 
nel, to defend them from the rain, and moving on at 
a travelling gait. 

The original rocks of compact limestone now began 
to appear : for the larger hills seem to have been 



ROAD TO FLORENCE. 355 

formed by the dilapidation of the Appennines, and 
the lesser ones of pebbles rolled by water. 

Two or three long windings of the road at length 
brought into view a different scene : trees and bushes 
of various sorts shading the road, and spreading over 
the hill-sides, with the deep green of an American 
forest. In one place the road ran along the side of a 
mountain, and afforded us a fine view down an irregular 
valley, covered with trees, and watered by a swift 
stream, which ran below us at the distance of four or 
five hundred feet. Just at the spot where we reached 
the highest point of the road, is a small niche cut 
into the rock for a rough painting of the Holy Mother, 
with the following inscription : 

" O passagier' chi passa per via, 
" No scorda salutar Maria." 

[O traveller ! never forget to salute Mary as you pass.] 

A little grotto beyond, offered a convenient shel- 
ter from a sudden shower of rain : for the carriage 
was slowly climbing the mountains a considera- 
ble distance behind. There was room enough in it 
for a hundred men, and the roof and walls were 
partly covered with stalactites, so that the excavation 
might have been formed for centuries. It is difficult 
to guess the object for which such grottos could have 
been made. They are however very common, and 
frequently furnish an agreeable foreground to a land- 
scape. Had an artist been in that situation, he might 
have taken hints from the hues and shades in the rus- 
tic retreat, as well as from the view it commanded 
down the dark valley below, worthy of the notice and 
the recollection of a master. 

In a very romantic situation is Narni, a considera- 
ble town, and the seat of a bishop. By an arched 



356 ROAD TO FLORENCE. 

bridge we crossed an irregular ravine; and having 
passed through the town, descended upon a large 
extent of level ground, through which the Tiber 
makes a beautiful serpentine course. There is a 
muddy, greenish colour in its water here, as at Rome, 
quite different from that of our rivers. On the left, 
our wide prospect was bounded by a ridge of high 
land, at the distance of five or six miles, which pre- 
sented a most agreeable sight. It was covered with 
a coat of green olive trees, and very thickly scattered 
with white buildings— sufficient proofs that we were 
approaching a country of healthful air, good soil, and 
industrious men ; and was well calculated to delight our 
eyes, after the dispiriting landscapes to which they had 
so long been accustomed. 

We continued for a long time travelling over the plain, 
which was partly covered with green wheat, and partly 
with poplar and mulberry trees, planted in rows, and 
each supporting a vine. The mode in which these 
trees are shaped struck us as a great novelty. The 
trunk is cut off at a height often feet from the ground, 
and the branches, which spring out near the top, are 
fastened with hoops until they bend from all sides, 
with great regularity, and point upwards. The 
branches are cut off at an equal height, so that they 
bear a near resemblance to the ribs of a corn-basket. 
On each tree is a vine; and as the vinedressers were 
at work, we had an opportunity of seeing how they 
prepare for the next season. The spurs which bore 
grapes last year are now cut away as useless; and 
those which sprouted two years ago are trimmed, 
twisted together by couples, and tied with willow 
withes to the bare branches of the trees; so that in 
summer each tree must be covered with the leaves of 
its vines, and become a beautiful cluster of verdure, 
in the shape of an umbrella. 



ROAD TO FLORENCE. 357 

A man was ploughing at a little distance, with an 
instrument of a singular, but I believe most antique 
form. It was made of a crooked stick, six feet long, 
one end fitted for a handle, and the other fastened 
with a small piece of wood nearly oval, which lay 
horizontally, and performed the part of a plough- 
share. This is the first instance I have seen in Italy, 
of the soil being broken by any thing except hoes and 
spades. A very striking change was manifested to- 
day in the breeds of domestic animals. The oxen, 
hogs and sheep were much smaller on this side the 
last ridge of mountains, and approached those of our 
own country in size and appearance. 

Before us now began to appear a range of moun- 
tains, the highest parts of which were striped with 
snow. The hills at their feet were covered with dark 
olives, and just at the edge of the plain stands the 
town of Terni. The road at length wound among 
gardens, crossed a bridge, and brought us to the gate, 
where we had to show our passports to an officer, 
and then entered the town. It was in the dusk of the 
evening when we stopped at the gate of an inn, situ- 
ated on a square and facing an old church. The inn- 
keeper refused to receive us, because he had a hun- 
dred officers to lodge ; and we remained some time 
doubtful what to do. Fourteen thousand men marched 
out this morning to the cascade, where they are now 
encamped in full view of the Neapolitans, who are 
also in considerable force. Twelve thousand men 
have come into Terni in the course of the day, and 
the town is so full that it will be in vain to seek a 
lodging elsewhere. We proposed sleeping in the car- 
riage; but were at length permitted to go in, with 
the promise of the best accommodations circumstan- 
ces would allow. The dining-room contained a large 



358 l^OAD TO FRORENCE. 

and somewhat noisy party of officers at table, and we 
soon forced the coachman to have a fire made, of a size 
that would have honoured the kitchen of a New-Eng- 
land farm-house. Our dinner was probably less in- 
viting than we might have expected on the Sienna 
road, but we had now an opportunity to see what was 
of more value : the behaviour of a large party of 
soldiers on the eve of a battle. They either did not 
expect to fight, or they were very indifferent on the 
subject; for as soon as the sour wine they were drink- 
ing had begun to make itself felt, they laughed as if 
they bore ill-will to nobody on earth. 

We had almost given up our excursion to the cas- 
cade, when an old man offered his services as guide, 
and produced a pocket full of certificates from various 
travellers, written in Italian, English, French, German, 
Dutch, and Danish ; and we have finally determined 
to set out very early in the morning. 

March \st^ moiming. — Last evening the old man we 
had engaged as a guide, undertook to conduct me to 
the opera ; for I had seen " Cinderiila" advertised — 
" Music by the great master Rossini." It rained, and 
was extremely dark. I followed through several nar- 
row lanes, which the old man had chosen, to avoid, as 
he said, " the sentinels of these cursed Austrians." 
In a square, where a single light dazzled our eyes, we 
suddenly heard a shout in German, close behind us, 
and in an instant a musket-barrel, with a long bright 
bayonet, glistened almost in our faces. " O santissi- 
ma !" screamed the old man, in extreme alarm — 
*' What is the matter .f^" but the soldier only cursed 
him by his gods, and beat him with his gun, till he ran 
roaring down the street. He was forced therefore to 
take another route, through narrow allies full of stum- 
bling holes, and so dark that I knew where he went 



ROAD TO FLORENCE. 359 

chiefly by the continual vollies of sweet Italian oaths, 
he kept pouring out upon all Austrians without dis- 
tinction of age or sex. The house was mean and 
crowded principally with officers : the orchestra was 
WTetched in the extreme. Cinderilla was an old 
woman of Mtj, with a set of sharp features not much 
improved by the loss of her teeth, her father was not 
more than twenty-five, and her sisters were awkward, 
foolish and affected girls, with sprawling red hands. 
On my return I missed the way, and was soon hailed 
by a sentinel at one of the city gates. He was a short, 
stupid fellow, muffled in a grey great-coat, and could 
not speak a word of French or Italian, so that 1 was 
obliged to wander about the streets near half an hour, 
when I was again ordered to stand, and might not 
have found my way till now, had I not met with a 
priest who kindly directed me home. The house was 
full indeed, for I had to pass through a chamber occu- 
pied by four sleeping Frenchmen, who started up, 
thinking I had come to butcher them ; and when I 
reached my bed, which was probably the only empty 
one in town, and so lofty, that it needed a horse-block 
and stirrup to mount it. 

At five this morning we set out for the Cascade. On 
inquiring of our guide whether he was furnished with 
a passport, which we had been told was indispensible, 
he replied by placing his finger significantly on his 
nose ; and when we were accosted at the city gate 
with " Who's there .f^" he only said " Buon giorno ! 
amici !" [Good morning ! we are friends,] and we pro- 
ceeded without further challenge. We demanded of 
the old man by what means his words had become 
possessed of so much efficacy, for we had been as- 
sured it would be impossible to pass the walls with- 
out a written permission from the commanding officer, 



360 ROAD TO FLORENCE. 

and the mere sound of his voice, in a dark night, had 
opened the passage like the sessame of the Forty 
Thieves. To this he answered, in a mysterious vrhis- 
per, that the sentinel was quartered in the stables of 
our inn, where he had become acquainted with him, 
and made all necessary arrangements the evening 
before. 

After we had walked on some time among gardens 
and vineyards, day broke, and we found ourselves 
already shut in by high hills, and following a winding 
path in the valley. The ground beyond was occupied 
with olive-trees, many of which were extremely old^ 
having lost nearly all but their bark by gradual decay. 
The old man assured us that some of them had been 
planted a thousand years ! and that it would be a de- 
lightful thing if men were as long lived : — on second 
thoughts however he did not think there would be 
room enough for them all. (The man had never been 
in America.) He desired us to keep our eyes about 
us, for fear of being interrupted ; and if we saw any 
soldiers, to leave the road and walk silently among 
the olive-trees, to escape observation. The path at 
length became very narrow, and descended into a 
darker valley surrounded by mountains, which were 
shaded with green olive-trees half way up their sides ; 
and a conical hill rose opposite us, with an old town 
and castle on its top, while at the base a brook, the 
Naro, came running gaily towards us, and hurrying 
boisterously over a rocky channel. When we reached 
the opposite side, we proceeded warily for some time 
through the olive-grounds, when suddenly we discover^ 
ed a picket-guard of ten Austrian soldiers, stationed 
where they might look down the valley. It was still 
so dark however, on account of the high mountains 
by which we were quite surrounded, that they had not 



ROAD TO FLORENCE. 361 

observed our approach, and were now sitting round a 
small fire in grim society. The old man put his finger 
on his lips, as a sign to us to be still ; and turning to 
the left, led us across the valley, passing the brook on 
a narrow bridge. Then, after traversing several pri- 
vate gardens, with familiar salutations to such as we 
met, he brought us to the foot of the opposite moun- 
tain. Here was a fine path, leading near the bank of 
the brook, which has worn a deep channel into a 
bed of white limestone, singularly concreted in large 
masses, sometimes through beautiful orange-groves, 
and now and then before a house, half built, half ex- 
cavated from the rock. About a mile farther up, where 
the valley had become very narrow, dark and wild, 
we saw the cascade springing from the mountain, and 
falling in a narrow sheet of white foam, three hundred 
and seventy feet. The beauty is much increased by 
the rocks near the bottom, on which the water breaks, 
and runs down in a thousand little streams. We had 
to climb a rocky hill just opposite, which is the best 
point of view ; and there we found a rustic arbour, 
and a cushion of dry leaves, from which we enjoyed 
at our leisure the delightful scene below. The Aus- 
trians were encamped just beyond the brow of the 
precipice, so that they were invisible to us ; and the 
noise of the army was drowned by the dash of the 
water-fall. The Velino, as the brook is called before 
it reaches this place, rises in the Neapolitan domi- 
nions, which are so near that our guide, who much 
vaunted his knowledge of the country, declared that he 
could lead us safely to the frontier in two hours, by 
blind paths through the woods, unknown and unoccu- 
pied by the Austrians. He then looked up doubtfully 
into our eyes, as if he suspected from our inquiring 
the distance that we were disposed to join the rerolw" 

4^5 



3(52 KAOD TO FLORENCE. 

tionists, and had some more important object in view 
than the cascade. But he soon discovered his mis- 
take, and led us back down the valley. As a large 
body of troops were to march out early to the camp, 
he avoided the road, and conducted us by foot-paths 
through cultivated fields, which were irrigated by 
ditches communicating with the Naro. Here were 
vines trained on sticks, wheat, and gardens of vegeta- 
bles ; and the peasants we met all recognised our 
guide. He called them by their Christian names, and 
with rustic politeness bade "good morning," with 
his hat in his hand, to several old women we met, 
with long waists, old-fashioned ear-rings, and cruci- 
fiises on their necks. We passed several mills and 
manufactories, which are carried by the water of the 
brook. The path led through the ruins of a monas- 
tery, which with a nunnery situated on the other side 
of the Naro, was burnt two centuries ago by one 
of the popes, on account of the ill-conduct of the 
recluses. 

San Giacomo, March 1 — To pass the ridge of moun- 
tains, the ascent of which we began soon after leav- 
ing Terni, took nearly the whole day. The scenery 
was of a magnificent but desolate character : for 
though near their bases the mountains were partly 
covered with bushes and trees, the sides and summits 
presented a surface of loose grey rocks, which some- 
times lay together like the ruins of some ancient for- 
tress, while their immense height, and the extensive 
wastes between, convinced us that no human being 
had ever accomplished the ascent. Many of these 
summits could never have been attained in less time 
than three or four days ; and a man must inevitably 
starve on such a desert. No dwellings were to- be 
seen, no cultivated ground, and no other intimation of 



ROAD TO FLORENCE. 3^3 

the existence of men, but the road, which is broad 
and fine, following the drj bed of a torrent, sufficient- 
ly elevated above the channel to secure it from danger 
in the rainy seasons. From the very edge of the 
path, enormous rocks of limestone often rose high into 
the air, and others jutted out from among the trees 
and hung almost over our heads ; while far above, 
the immense mountains seemed to look down in scorn 
on the feeble attempts of men, who, after so many cen- 
turies, have been barely able to effect a passage 
through them. 

Here we met several parties of soldiers, some on 
foot, some on horse-back, wrapped in cloaks and great- 
coats, to defend them from a misty rain, and trudging 
silently on as if wearied by a laborious march. It was 
impossible to avoid remarking their good order, and 
peaceable and obliging deportment : for whether we 
met them in companies, or singly, they always gave us 
a share of the road, and frequently saluted us in 
French with " Bon jour !" or in German or Italian — 
" Guten dag meinheer !" " Buon giorno signore !" 
Some of the soldiers were accompanied by their 
wives and children, who were usually on horseback, 
the women though clad in their husbands' uniform coats 
and carrying canteens slung over their shoulders, show- 
ed, by their woe-begone countenances, that they were 
comparing these desolate mountains with some com- 
fortable German landscape, and the plenty and quiet 
of a distant country with the privations, labour and 
sufferings of an army on the march. 

Thus we travelled, and among such scenes, till near 
the close of the day, when we found ourselves free of 
the mountains, and approaching an extensive tract of 
level country, across which the road ran in a straight 
line for several miles. The town of Spoleto, which 
occupied the top and sides of a hill in front, is sur- 



364 ^^^^ TO FLORENCE, 

rounded by walls, and contains a castle built by The- 
odoric. Two hundred Austrians were filing out, who 
so filled up the road, that an officer ordered us to 
drive round under the walls, without attempting to 
enter the city. At that place we had designed to 
spend the night, and were thus forced to lengthen our 
ride three miles to reach this inn. Spoleto was so 
completely overrun with troops, that a large body had 
halted without the walls ; where the fields, planted 
with trees and vines, and covered with a crop of 
young wheat, were allotted to their encampment. On 
both sides of us were hundreds of horses fastened to 
long ropes, tents pitched, artillery and ammunition- 
wagons collected and guarded by sentinels. Soldiers 
were seated in clusters, eating, smoking and scouring 
their arms. Others were leaning against gun-car- 
riages and telling tales, probably of former campaigns. 
The " Feld schmidt," [camp smith,] had opened his 
moveable furnace, and was shoeing horses ; children 
were asleep with their heads laid on their fathers' 
knapsacks ; and mothers seemed happy with the hope 
of a night's repose, but frequently looked with dread 
at their disheartening prospects — the mountains just 
before them, the fatigues and troublesof which were in 
reserve for to-morrow. 

San Giacomo, the village where we have stopped, 
is a solitary cluster of houses, from which the view 
reaches on every side over some part of the plain, 
varied only by vineyards, wheat-fields, and a few rows 
of trees. Before sunset however, the slanting light 
threw an air of gaiety over the green level ground, 
contrasting it beautifully with the tall ridges of moun- 
tains, which lay in a deep shade. 

After a short stroll, which allowed Vicenzo time to 
fodder his mules, we returned to the inn at the time 
when the children were leaving the street^ and the 



ROAD TO FLORENCE. 365 

candles were beginning to shine on the faces of quiet 
families seated around their tables. By a wooden gate 
we entered the yard, and stepping up an outside stone 
staircase, reached the kitchen of the smallest inn it 
has been our fortune to see in Italy. It is indeed of 
so unpretending a description that no traveller would 
ever think of entering it, unless, as in our case, hard 
driven by necessity. The kitchen has a rough stone 
floor and two windows without glass, capable of 
being closed only by wooden shutters, yet it is the 
only parlour and dining-room. A large permanent 
table occupies the centre; and with chairs and 
benches we soon drew a circle round the fire-place, 
which was formed after a reduced model of those in 
our farm-houses, and supplied with several logs of a 
generous size, placed on andirons, and illuminating 
many happy faces with a brilliant blaze. 

The inmates had been already apprised of the 
length of time since we had tasted food, and seemed 
well acquainted with the fact that the passage of the 
mountains is an excellent sharpener of the appetite. 
They therefore set themselves without delay to pre- 
pare us a supper. This caused no little calculation, 
whispering, and argument among three sprightly 
young women, who seemed of various opinions con- 
cerning our fare: but as the ultimate appeal lay in all 
cases with their mother — a poor woman with an intel- 
ligent face — the questions were soon decided : a pot 
was hung over the fire for soup, two fowls were put 
upon a spit, and basted with butter melting from a roll 
of paper, and two more were properly flattened out 
and laid in the frying-pan. The cheerfulness of this 
plain family, their unaffected good-will, together with 
the appearance which every thing bore of honest po- 
verty aiming at comfort unadorned, presented a whole 



366 ROAD TO FLORENCE. 

which I never before imagined an Italian scene could 
furnish. 

"I am glad the foreigners are all gone by at last," 
said the good woman, " the house has been overrun 
with them for several days. Sometimes indeed there 
were so many, that a hundred have been forced to 
sleep together in' our yard. Not that they are bad 
customers, for they pay well for every thing they 
have ; but that you may be sure of room enough, and 
a whole bed apiece, though, as you see, our stock of 
provisions is well-nigh exhausted." " Excuse me, gen- 
tlemen," she added, " for stepping between you and 
the fire — ^Iwas afraid your soup would be spoiled." 
Ere this, a good old widowed aunt had caught three 
pretty little children, who had been exercising too 
much locomotion, and having consigned them over to 
the care of Morpheus, by the simple spells of trotting 
and humming, soon put them out of sight and out of 
mind. 

When the soup was at length done, and the macca- 
roni had been put in long enough to make the soup 
deserve the name of " una pasta," [a paste,] we sat 
down at table, as happy as travellers have a right to 
be in such circumstances, and quite forgetful of the 
Sienna road. Just then there was a trampling in the 
yard ; and one of the girls running to the door, re- 
turned with a fallen countenance, to report that a 
body of troops had arrived. At the same instant 
heavy boots and rattling sabres were heard on the 
steps, and a young officer and two soldiers entered, 
with such overhanging whiskers and lowering aspects, 
that we dreamed only of a battle for our supper. 
They bowed respectfully, however, and sat down in 
silence. One of the soldiers spoke of supper — "Gen- 
tlemen," said our hostess, " we can prepare you a meal 



ROAD TO FLORENCE, 357 

of such as we have, in half an hour." The soldier 
translated this to the officer in German, and then re- 
turned the following reply : " Signora, the master says 
it is very well ; he is hungry, but not impatient :" and 
then dropping his head on one shoulder, he instantly 
fell asleep. " The master," however, had apparent- 
ly, something of greater interest upon his heart : for 
though he had been all day on the march, he sat 
looking steadfastly into the fire, with his bold fieatures 
drawn into an expression of the deepest abstraction ; 
while the martial air of a young soldier began to give 
place to the attitude of an absent lover. Were Don 
Quixote here, thought I, that warm friend of lovers, 
we should be certain of hearing one of those interest- 
ing tales in which he took so much delight. But this 
inamorato, (for such he surely must be,) was allowed 
to follow undisturbed the current of his thoughts till 
supper was announced. " Johann !" cried he. The 
sleeping soldier sprang up, with a loud ejaculation 
which intimated that he was dreaming of some des- 
perate struggle, probably with the Neapohtans: but 
when " the master" had roused him with a shake, he 
looked bewildered, and then mortified and grieved, 
and prepared to take a stand, like corporal Trim, 
behind his chair. This the young officer would not 
allow, but made him sit at table opposite himself, and 
half forgot the distinctions of rank in thoughts of home 
in a foreign land. The other, who performed the of- 
fice of waiter, had a long grey surtout buttoned up 
to his chin, a limp in his gait, and his head corres- 
pondently thrust forward ; but his plain honest fea- 
tures, and ready obedient manners, were those of an 
attached and grateful serving-man. The countenance 
of the officer sufficiently indicated a warm heart and 
an open one : but the carriage of his attendants proved 



36B ^OAD TO FLORENCE. 

that he bore both their respect and their love, so that 
we thought we risked little in liking him on trust. 

Vicenzo, who possesses all those agreeable collo- 
quial qualities which often spread a surprising degree 
of urbanity over the manners of the lower classes in 
this country, had now dressed his face in smiles, and 
put in requisition every graceful gesture ; for he has 
more than one friend under this humble roof. The 
girls, if they spoke Enghsh, would certainly call him 
^'very agreeable;" and the harmless policy of the 
mother, I think, increased a little the breadth of her 
smiles, at every sally of his wit. Seating himself be- 
side one of the daughters, he melted his rough Tuscan 
dialect into as much softness as possible, and occa- 
sionally touched his heart with a graceful wave of the 
hand, while she sighed and looked into the fire. " Is 
not this place called San Giacomo ?" inquired one of 
the soldiers, at the instigation of his master : " Yes," 
replied Vicenzo, with a quick turn in his eyes, and 
adding a singular burlesque imitation of those append- 
ages often fixed to the names of saints — " San Giacomo 
delle belle donne," [St. James of the pretty girls.] 

Perugia, March 2. — At nine our lumbering vehi- 
cle, drawn by its four perverse mules, entered Foligno, 
a considerable town, of which however our road-book 
has recorded only these few particulars : — " It contains 
several churches and palaces with a few pictures, and 
a convent where may be seen a Raphael." But we 
passed directly on, for the town was filled with six- 
teen thousand Austrians, and were not allowed to 
stop one moment. The adjacent fields were trodden 
down by horses, and deeply ploughed by the wheels 
of gun-carriages, and those enormous canvass-covered 
wagons which contain the provisions, baggage and am- 
munition of the soldiers. These machines, with their 



ROAD TO FLORENCE. 369 

size and number, left us astonished at the weighty 
bulk of the bare necessaries of an army ; and ac^ 
counted in a good degree for the enormous expense at 
which wars are carried on, even at this advanced 
period of the world. They showed too in a most 
striking light the political importance of roads, and 
how rivers, morasses and mountains might be useful 
to an invaded country. 

We had been travelling ever since yesterday after- 
noon on the immense valley of Umbria, which extends, 
without the interruption of a single hillock, about 
twenty or twenty-five miles, from one ridge of moun- 
tains to another. Spello, on the site of the ancient 
Hispellum, occupies a high hill just at the edge of the 
valley, and there we stopped a full hour. A tiresome 
walk up several streets brought us to a coffee-house, 
a public square and two churches, containing two or 
three specimens of Roman sculpture of no particular 
interest ; and with one of my countrymen I climbed 
to the summit of the hill, by a street of unusual 
steepness. Here, under an old square tower of the 
castle, and in front of a convent of Capuchins, is a 
little promenade called " Piazza bel veduta," from 
which the view is very extensive and delightful. The 
eye ranges without interruption over the Valley of 
Umbria, whose surface seemed one immense vineyard, 
except where it shows an occasional cottage and the 
shining surfaces of a few little ponds at the distance of 
many miles. Just below us on the right hand, lay a 
range of hills on the margin of the plain, whose irre- 
gular sides, wherever they were capable of culti- 
vation, were terraced and occupied as gardens, or 
planted with vines and orange trees. Several lonely 
and ruinous towers stood on their summits ; and imme- 
diately behind rose the dark and inaccessible moun- 

47 



3/0 *^OAD TO FLORENCE. 

tains, the tallest of which were perfectly white with 
snow. 

While we were admiring so fine a scene, an old 
monk came out of the convent, and passed near us 
several times, with such looks as are natural to a 
modest man while meditating a suitable address for a 
stranger. We saved his invention any further trial by 
speaking first, when he most gladly approached, in his 
suit of black, with a silver-headed cane, and entered 
into conversation with a willing mind and a low, quick 
voice. The convent, he said, Was formerly filled with 
" religious i^' but now, since the times of the French, 
contained only seven or eight, yet it was not quite 
stripped of its riches, for he would promise us much gra- 
tification if we would consent to Walk in and look at 
the pictures in the chapel. The scene under our 
eyes however was too attractive to permit it, particu- 
larly as we had discovered just below us, at the base 
of the hills, the ruins of a Roman amphitheatre. Un- 
fortunately the old man had not devoted his leisure 
and retirement to books, but seemed to have satisfied 
himself with forming conjectures about the world, of 
which he can scarcely consider himself a member. 
He had therefore little to say of the amphitheatre, 
and still less of the Gothic towers on the hills : but he 
pointed out the road we had yet to travel, which 
stretched away before us far across the plain, passing 
a magnificent church, and leading on towards Perugia, 
which was seen among the green hills fifteen miles off. 
The church, he said, was that of our Lady of the 
Angels : and a town a little to the right of it was 
Assisi, in which he showed us a convent founded by St. 
Francis — indeed the place where the order of Fran- 
ciscans was originally established. There he assured 
UB had been discovered, within a few months, the 



ROAD TO FLORENCE. 371 

remains of that Saint, buried in an iron chest, in a spot 
long unsuspected, and revealed in a dream to a monk 
of the convent. 

The old man expatiated on the beauty and fertility 
of the Valley of Umbria, and lamented the degene- 
racy of man — the only cause, in his opinion, why the 
country around us was not as populous and as produc- 
tive as any spot on the face of the earth. " This val- 
ley," he said, " was formerly covered with an indus- 
trious and happy people. It possesses a most luxu- 
riant soil, and is free from those pestilential vapours 
which are said to abound in the regions far off towards 
the south. But a long succession of wars have almost 
drained it of inhabitants, and corrupted the morals 
and the habits of those who remain." We now re- 
marked that large tracts of land, which had been ob- 
scured by the distance, were entirely uncultivated ; 
and that the number of white cottages was very small, 
though sufficient to give an enlivening air to the scene. 
" What a pity," he continued, " that such a country 
should be almost laid waste by the foolish disputes of 
kings ! You have seen the Austrian army passing 
through it to punish the rebellious Neapolitans ! 
What mighty numbers they bring with thero^^they 
cannot withstand such a force. Ah, unfortunate 
Christians ! so ignorant of their own good, and that 
of their fellow men, as not to rest content with the 
blessings God has given them !" These were the re» 
flections of a man cut off from the society of his race, 
with such a taste for peaceful pleasures as he had 
acquired from the beautiful scene of rural quiet below, 
with such elevated ideas as the sublimity of the moun-. 
tains would naturally inspire, and with such distortde 
conceptions of the world as if he had looked down upon 
it from a cloud, 



372 ROAD TO FLORENCE. 

With that curiosity which is always felt and usually 
betrayed by a person of secluded habits concerning 
the stranger who visits his retreat, he brought about, 
by some simple stratagem, an inquiry of whence we 
had come and whither we were going. Of America 
he knew little except that it had been discovered by 
Columbus : and though he thought it was a great way 
oflP— a very great way — he rolled his eyes in utter 
amazement, when he heard we had had to travel more 
than four thousand miles to reach Spello. When we at 
length bade adieu to his goodness and simplicity, he 
made a respectful reverence, as the inhabitants of a 
far and unknown world ; and we began to descend the 
hill, leaving him to reflect that however extensive the 
Valley of Umbria, it occupied a less important space 
on the earth than he had imagined, and that probably 
some of his notions of mankind might prove erro- 
neous when measured by his extended scale. 

As we passed down the steep and difficult streets, 
the inhabitants viewed us with distant dread and an 
eye on their little children, evidently taking us for 
strolling Austrians, concerning whom they seemed to 
entertain many ill-defined fears. At the foot of the 
hill, on the top of a tower sixty feet high, is an olive 
tree of considerable size, which it is said has been 
growing in that singular situation for two hundred 
years. Near at hand is an ancient Roman gate. 

At the inn we obtained a flattering specimen of the 
productions of the neighbouring valley, in some sweet 
white wine, at eight baiocchi [cents] a bottle, and 
then walked on a mile to the amphitheatre. It was of 
considerable size and built in the usual manner, but 
quite neglected and in a ruinous state. From this 
spot the hill was viewed in its turn, crowned with the 
lower and convent. 



ROAD TO FLORENCE. 373 

Resuming our seats in the carriage we rode on 
three miles to the church of St. Mary of the Angels^ 
and were much surprised at the loneliness of its situa- 
tion as well as at its size and magnificence. If I might 
trust my eyes, there are not more than three or four 
larger churches in Rome ; and there was a large amount 
of weahh in pictures and statues. A chapel dedi- 
cated to St. Francis is quite covered with some thou- 
sands of trifles and trinkets, deposited there hy such 
as imagined themselves benefitted by means of his 
interposition. Yet, as if to caricature a leading trait 
in the moral physiognomy of the country, all this noble 
architecture and costly decoration are isolated, in a 
wide extent of country almost depopulated, and where 
the few inhabitants one meets with are reduced to the 
lowest grade of poverty, and ground and stamped in 
the dust. Clustering about the church were half a 
dozen wretched hovels, whence issued twenty or 
thirty miserable women and children, coming about 
us with pitiable cries, and supplying each individual 
of our party with two or three most incessant and per- 
severing beggars as long as we remained. Many pil- 
grims resort to this place everj year : but if we should 
ever meditate an undertaking of this sort, I am cer- 
tain this herd of wretched beings would not be forgot- 
ten, and an exposure to their begging mania would 
be entered among the trials of a pilgrimage. 

It was late in the afternoon ere we reached the 
other side of the plain, and crossed the Tiber by a 
stone bridge built in the reign of Augustus. Two 
dams are built here near each other, over which the 
water, much raised by the rains, was pouring with 
great violence. The land now rose into hills of 
such steepness that Vicenzo was fain to accept of the 
proposal made by a boy, namely that he should fasten 



374 no AD TO FLORENCE. 

a pair of large grey oxen before the mules, to assist 
them in drawing us up. The smooth road and the flat 
and boundless vineyards of the valley, were thus sud- 
denly exchanged for a toilsome ascent and the shade 
of hills enclosed with evergreen olives. When we 
had reached a sufficient height, numerous hill-sides 
and summits appeared in view, some of them strong- 
ly illuminated by the sun, which was hidden from 
our sight and near the horizon ; while far below us 
was a circular valley, like an immense goblet, lying 
in the shade of the surrounding mountains and con- 
taining in its bosom the vineyards and gardens of 
Perugia, divided into a thousand little patches of 
different colours and scattered over the irregular 
ground. 

The city itself occupies a high and broken hill a 
mile or two beyond, and seems ready at any time 
to resist a considerable force, as the road is led 
along a steep cliflfj through several gates and at the 
foot of a very high wall, from which stones might 
be dropped with the most fatal effect. A large 
square to which this conducted us commanded an 
extensive view towards the west, over ranges of hills 
and mountains, clad in a coat of deep green and 
shining beautifully under the setting sun. From 
this place branched off several broad streets, well 
built, and of a most inviting appearance, paved with 
good stones and supplied with side-walks, the first we 
have seen in Italy, excepting only those at Pompeii. 
There are many marble basins in different parts of 
the town, curiously carved with griffins and other 
monsters : but the source of water by which they 
were supplied has entirely failed, having been cut off 
about twenty years since during a siege the city sus- 
tained from a band of robbers. 



ROAD TO FLORENCE* 375 

After the necessary attention to our passports, we 
put ourselves under the guidance of a little boj who 
offered to conduct us to the principal objects of 
curiosity, and set off at a great pace lest we should 
be overtaken by the darkness. There are the re- 
mains of a Roman temple, and an arch quite entire 
which bears this inscription on one side : "Augusta 
Perusa," and is said to have been raised by Caius Ces- 
tius. The cathedral, here called the " Duomo," is a 
large church, and has some of its windows ornamented 
with barbarous stained glass; while the Public Palace 
is furnished with many small and crowded arcades 
which break the wall. I am aware of the veneration 
with which such specimens of building are regarded 
in many of the northern countries of Europe: yet the 
Gothic style, that unworthy successor — nay, that base 
supplanter — of the pure taste of Greece, must always 
be viewed with unmingled disgust, in such situations as 
are calculated to remind one of its intrusion. Where- 
ever the Romans extended the conquests of their 
arms they carried the models of Rome — composed of 
the simple elements of beauty and magnificence : but 
the northern hordes swept away all traces of them, to 
prepare for the whimsical combinations — the phantas- 
tic jumble — of clustered columns, pointed arches and 
coloured glass, which they called architecture. The 
feelings therefore of a traveller on meeting the current 
of barbarism, are similar to what he may have felt at 
stepping on the edge of an old course of lava, which has 
swept across the luxuriant fields at the base of Vesuvius. 
To confess the truth, such a dreary waste now seems 
to us to lie spread out to the north, and I fear it will 
demand no little labour to persuade our minds to 
forget the objects with which antiquity has delighted 
us, and condescend to the enjoyment of modern im- 



376 ROAD TO FLORENCE. 

provements of greater value, affecting more imme- 
diately the interests of man. 

The Arco del Conca is a wooden bridge, which 
reaches across a valley to afford a more direct commu- 
nication between the two hills. It is thrown at a great 
height over a street, and passes I believe in Perugia 
for one of the wonders of the world. We found a very 
convenient walk along the city walls, which is partly 
furnished with shops on one side, covered by buildings 
over head, and quite shut up from the external air, ex- 
cept where embrasures and loop-holes furnish it at 
once with light and a view of the surrounding pictu- 
resque country. In rainy weather this is a fashionable 
promenade for the citizens. 

The Austrians have so nearly stripped the inn that 
we got no wine but some that was very thin and sour, 
the poorest production of a neighbourhood by no 
means celebrated in this particular at any time. Our 
Bolognese companion spoke of the pleasure he antici- 
pated in showing us the beautiful fields and the supe- 
rior state of society in Tuscany : " Ah !" cried Vi- 
cenzo, who according to the custom prevalent in Italy, 
sat at table with his passengers, " Ah ! you may well 
begin to talk of that — it is high time to mention Tus- 
cany : for to-morrow night we shall be in our own 
country — the land of good wine, (casting a glance at 
the miserable beverage before us,) red, sweet wine; ij 
and the country of ladies, (looking at us, and pro- 
nouncing with all the roughness of his Tuscan tongue,) i 
ladies as fair as those of Americha." i 

Castiglione, March 3. — At half past five we left 
Perugia, and were a full hour in descending the hills 
by a winding road, which, as the dayhght increas- 
ed, presented many beautiful scenes — their sides co- 
vered with olives, and sloping at various angles to a 



ROAD TO FLORENCE. 377 

few spots of ploughed land and the smooth declining 
road. The morning was clear and serene, and every 
thing around us wore that aspect of calmness and 
beauty which often spreads so much solemnity over a 
landscape, and fixes the recollection of it with such 
distinctness on the mind. Here we met small parties of 
peasants going to the town with bundles of brush- 
w^ood, quantities of vegetables, and little lambs and 
kids peeping out of baskets and bags. 

The winding road at length opened upon a plain 
ten or fifteen miles in extent, reduced to a most beauti- 
ful system of cultivation. The ground was divided with 
perfect regularity by innumerable canals and ditches, 
for supplying every part of the soil with the moist- 
ure it requires in the dry season. Large sluices tra- 
verse the plain in parallel lines, and at the elevation 
of several feet above the surface. They are guarded 
by strong dykes of earth, and the road crosses them 
on handsome bridges, built with uniformity and placed 
at equal distances. Ditches branch off from each 
of these canals, and these again communicate with 
others of diminished size and increased depth, till 
the water is spread over the surface by ten thou- 
sand ramifications, and distributed in equal propor- 
tions to every field and every bed. Every spot of 
ground was devoted either to grain or to vines ; and 
the improved mode of training the trees corrres- 
ponded with the system of ingenious and persevering 
agriculture, so strikingly seen in every thing else. The 
number of branches was greater than in those men- 
tioned before, usually from twelve to fifteen, and they 
were shaped with more care and into a hemisphere of 
double the size. Besides, a single bough is allowed to 
grow to its full length, and led round the outside of the 
rest, to keep them in their places, and not unfrequently 

48 



3?g toAD to FLORENCE. 

bound to them till an union is formed by growing, and 
withes are no more necessary. By this process a con- 
venient support is presented the branches of the vine; 
and to the eye, a specimen of living basket-work of a 
most ingenious construction. It is difficult to describe 
the pleasure we felt at this sight, succeeding, at so 
short a distance of time, the Roman Campagna and 
the Pomptine Marshes, and holding up so fair a pro- 
mise of a superior state of society. 

At the end of the plain the road ascended a steep 
hill by a zigzag course, and as we were walking up, 
we met a long line of wagons loaded with provisions 
for the Austrian army. Our carriage came up very 
slowly, though the mules were assisted by two oxen, so 
that we had time to get a little coffee at a village, and 
to examine a ruinous square tower on the summit, 
which commands a fine view of the plain we had 
passed, and of two or three vallies on the other side. 
The tops of the hills were covered with olives, while 
their sides were terraced for the cultivation of vines, 
here trained on sticks, so that the sun gave a very 
agreeable variety to the view, by shining bright on 
some, and throwing others into the shade. The wea- 
ther was clear and warm, and the air possessed that 
exhilirating freshness peculiar in our own climate to 
the first pleasant days of spring. 

From this elevation the road wound down among 
the dark hills, and in a quarter of an hour brought us 
to the shore of Lake Thrasymenus, now called the 
Lake of Perugia. It is a beautiful sheet of water four 
or five miles broad, twelve or fifteen long, and sur- 
rounded with high, irregular hills. There are several 
little capes running out on both sides, some of which 
terminate with a white village or an old tower, and 
others are covered with natural forest trees, without 



ROAD TO FLORENCE. 379 

any signs of cultivation or inhabitants. The road ran 
along the very margin of the water, and near three or 
four houses which we passed, where some women were 
washing, was a rude boat, with a bow running up high 
and carved; and 1 observed several eel-pots of wicker- 
work, made on the same plan with those they use in 
the rivers and brooks of New England. 

As we rode along we became quite delighted with 
the changing scene under our eyes. The three islands 
of the lake, Maggiore, Minore, and Pulves, gradually 
opened more distinctly to view, though their ej^tremi- 
ties as well as the other distant points seemed to stand 
out of the lake, which lay still and smooth under a 
serene sky and a bright sun. A beautiful little valley 
on the right which wound among the hills, was irriga^ 
ted and covered with a grove of vineyards ; and soon 
after passing it we reached Pasignano del Lago, a 
wretched stone village, which at a distance had so 
deceived our eyes. A line of baggage wagons had 
just reached the other end of the narrow street, for 
there was but one, and we were ordered to stop till 
they should all pass. An old officer, however, was so 
good as to order a halt, and let us go by first. The 
retrospect of this town is picturesque. 

Two or three miles beyond, we stopped at the 
Pope's Custom House, where is also a post-house. The 
inhabitants looked remarkably pale, for the whole 
neighbourhood of the lake is infected with an un- 
healthy atmosphere from the water ; and to the malaria 
is to be attributed the depopulation of these delightful 
shores. The windows of the Custom House command 
an uninterrupted view of the lake. One of the islands 
i« in the foreground ; beyond, the water winds around 
several green points, then rise ridges of hills and 
mountains^ covered with w ood and growing of a paler 
and paler blue as they retire. 



380 nOAT> TO FLORENCE. 

When Hannibal, after the battle of Cannae, was 
marching towards Rome, the Consul Flaminius was 
hastily dispatched to oppose him, and the two armies 
met at Lake Thrasjmenus. A terrible battle was 
fought at a defile through which the Carthaginians 
were obliged to pdss, and both parties are said to have 
engaged with s6 much ardour, that not a soldier in 
either army was sensible of a violent earthquake which 
happened during the time. The Romans however 
were finally defeated with great slaughter, and left the 
whole country open to Hannibal. We were told here 
that the battle ground was at a place called Sangui- 
netta,about two miles distant ; and as the mules had not 
yet eaten their allowance I set off to find it with one 
of my friends. 

We walked a mile along the road and then turned 
off to cross a narrow plain towards the hills. The 
ground is much channelled by torrents whose beds 
were now dry, and we passed by turns through vine- 
yards, wheat-fields, pasture-grounds, and neglected 
fields overgrown with shrubs and trees. We in- 
quired of a vinedresser and afterwards of two boys, 
and then of a shepherdess and her son. They knew 
nothing of " the old field of battle," but directed us 
to " Sanguinetta," a spot on the ascent of the hilly 
ridge before us, where we saw two or three houses. 
On a piece of waste ground we saw an old woman 
driving an ass, and hastened to overtake her, but she 
happened to look back and seeing two men in foreign 
dresses following her, (Austrians of course,) though a 
quarter of a mile off, she took to her wooden shoes and 
ran away with all her might. We overtook her how- 
ever in spite of her exertions and our own disposition to 
laugh, and showed our intentions were pacific by ask- 
ing where was Sanguinetta. She was going there — 
it was just beyond — there had been a great battle 



ROAD TO FLORENCE. 33 j 

there at some period long past, but so long ago, that 
she could not remember any thing about it though she 
was seventy yes^rs old ! 

We inquired of a man at one of the houses if that 
were the field of battle: " Yes," he said, '' and the place 
where you stand was the great grave where the dead 
were interred." Much to our surprise we now ob- 
served bits of bones mixed with the soil ; and on 
scraping a little with a stick, we dug up pieces of 
human skulls and a jaw with a row of fine teeth. 
The poor man and his whole family seemed much in- 
terested in our researches, and declared that though 
the earth had been removed from that place to the 
depth of three feet, the quantity of bones was still 
very great. "There has been a great butchery here," 
remarked the man, " though nobody can tell how long 
ago — here was some battle ground, for these are all the 
bones of Christians^ He declared that a few things 
of some value had been found, and that he had dug 
up a glass flask among the bones several months before, 
but he chose to reply in general terms to our questions 
on this subject. 

It is impossible to find any thing like the pass 
through the mountains which the consul is said to have 
seized. Sanguinetta is on the side of a mountainous 
ridge which borders the lake for many miles, and pre- 
sents no other irregularity than a few gentle undula- 
tions. It is possible, indeed it is very probable, that 
the road might formerly have crossed the hills just be- 
hind this place, where is one of those slight undula- 
tions above-mentioned, and which, though it is not 
worthy even of the name of a notch, might have been 
described by an historian as a deep ravine: for histo- 
rians have not always been careful enough even on 
more important subjects. The present road keeps 



382 ^OAD TO FLORENCE. 

nearer the lake, and crosses the high ground not more 
than a mile distant from Sanguinetta ; jet, such is the 
nature of the country, that route is little better on any 
account than what we marked out for the ancient one. 
In one particular it certainly could not be superior : the 
view of the water, the islands and the surrounding hills, 
was here much more beautiful than we could have ex- 
pected to find it, from any point whatever. The islands 
in front, and behind them the hills with retiring ridges, 
were thrown together as an artist would have wished 
them, to show the utmost variety of which their va- 
ried lines were capable. The profiles of two neigh- 
bouring hills never disgusted the eye with meagre 
parallels; but if one sloped smoothly to the water, 
the other presented a graceful undulation, which at 
length perhaps subsided almost to a plain, and then, 
disappearing behind a hill of a new form, wound away 
among unknown vallies. Broad sheets of water and 
the sweeping turns of little inlets — nay, the trees, the 
shrubs, with the old cottage or tower which they 
sometimes nearly concealed — all were arranged in 
such a manner as to increase the beauty of the scene, 
which lay spread out in the light of a clear and serene 
sky. It may easily be imagined that the story we had 
heard from the old man and his family was calculated 
to excite in our minds a peculiar interest for the spot. 
There was no objection to our considering this the 
ancient battle ground. If it be impossible that a lime- 
stone soil should preserve human bones for such a 
length of time, (for it is no less than two thousand and 
thirty-eight years since the battle of Lake Thrasyme- 
nus,) possibly these bones may have been left on the 
same spot in some more modern war. Tradition tells us 
that here the Romans suffered that defeat which spread 
such a panic through the city — that here, in this silent 



ROAD TO FLORENCE. 3{^3 

and secluded spot, and in sight of this charming land- 
scape, the wonderful Carthaginian performed one of 
those great deeds which spread the terror of him 
through all Italy, and made him in the words of 
Horace, 

" Parentibus abominatus Annibal." 

Sanguinetta is very rarely visited by travellers, if we 
fiiay believe the man, when he declared there had been 
no strangers there for a long time, except a lady and her 
son, who he believed were Austrians. But an indu- 
bitable proof that his assertion was true, is that they 
were all confounded and ifiquired what we meant 
when we put some money into the hand of the boy, 
and were quite surprised that we should think of 
giving him any thing for digging up the ground. 

We found our way back to the " master-road," as they 
called the highway in contradistinction to the mule- 
tracks and footpaths with which the fields were tra- 
versed in every direction ; and from the hill took leave 
of Lake Thrasymenus and began to descend upon 
a valley covered with vineyards. Among the olive 
groves of the surrounding hills white houses were 
thinly scattered, and just at their feet ran our road 
with many windings, and at length crossed a little 
brook just when the calcareous soil gives place to 
rocks of beautiful free stone. " We are in Tuscany !" 
cried the old farmer with a hearty smile : and when 
the vettura had passed the bridge, Vicenzo exclaimed 
with his natural enthusiasm, " We are in Tuscany !" 
and as the most natural mode for a coachman to ex- 
press the warmth of his feelings, he gave his mules 
severally a biting switch, and got the whole equipage 
into a quick motion correspondent with the joyful 
beatings of his heart. 



384 ROAD TO FLORENCE. 

A short ride brought us to Assaia, a small towtl 
where is the Custom House of the Grand Duke, and 
where half our party set off on foot to go to Corto- 
na, a city we saw before us on the top of a high and 
rounded hill, three miles off This hill rises from the 
bosom of a plain eight or ten miles in extent, where 
the soil was principally devoted to vineyards, so that 
the situation of Cortona, (the ancient Corytum,) was 
remarkably singular and beautiful. Alessandro, the 
handsome young advocate, was induced to undertake 
the laborious excursion by a taste fur antiques which 
he had cultivated during his residence in Rome ; and 
the Bolognese householder we judged was impelled 
by a strong sense of religious obligations — for to do 
him justice, he manifests on every occasion the most 
sincere regard to the creed and the practice enjoined 
by the Pope and his priests. He pointed out to us 
a large church on the very summit of the hill, as that 
of Santa Margaretta, filled with magnificent chapels 
and countless wealth, highly esteemed as a place of 
great sanctity and the resort of many pilgrims. " He 
is enthusiastic," whispered Alessandro, " and thinks 
this church finer than St. Peter's I dare say, because 
it is in Tuscany. But we shall find objects of more 
interest while he goes to return thanks to the saint, 
as I have little doubt it is his object to do. Then we 
shall see the ancient marble quarries, the remains of 
the Baths of Corytum, and the Temple of Bacchus." 
To these he would have added, if he had looked into 
a book of the roads, the Etruscan Academy which 
contains a good museum and library, as well as several 
private libraries and cabinets worthy of attention, for 
here, as in many other cities of Italy, all medals, speci- 
mens of sculpture, inscriptions, &c. found in the neigh- 
bourhood, are collected and arranged. 



ROAD TO FLORENCE. 385 

The height we had to ascend was so great, that we 
were weary long before we had attained it, and often 
paused to recover breath and to look upon the exten- 
sive and fertile valley below, which was seen reaching 
out several miles to the south and the west, covered 
with trained trees and vines, spotted here and there 
with white buildings, and partly shaded by the broken 
clouds which surrounded the sun, now setting, and 
partly illuminated by the strong light which streamed 
through their folds. 

Cortona may contain six or seven thousand inhabi- 
tants, and presented several broad streets, well paved 
with large stones, and lined with fine houses and pa- 
laces, surprising us with an unusual air of convenience 
and comfort. Instead of narrow lanes, dirty pave- 
ments, and a new sight of disorder and beggary at 
every step, the smooth stones under our feet seemed 
to have been just washed clean, the inhabitants were 
well dressed, some returning from a promenade, others 
standing at the doors of well arranged shops, which 
occupied the basement story of large houses, and were 
supplied with a thousand articles of finery and luxury, 
notwithstanding the difficulty of raising them to^such 
a height. The church of Sta. Margaretta was still at 
no inconsiderable distance above us, so that we were 
forced to return for fear lest the vettura should leave 
us behind, as the " master road" coasts along at the 
bottom of the hill; though the old man urged us ex- 
tremely, and the bells seemed to invite us by ringing a 
loud peal. Alessandro longed for a sight of the anti- 
quities, but darkness was fast spreading over the val- 
ley, and we all descended in headlong haste to over- 
take Vicenzo, and our companions. 

An hour's ride brought us to the village of Cas- 
tiglione, when two tall, sedate young women opened 

49 



336 ROAD TO FLORENCE. 

the door, and with an odd mixture of pride and obse- 
quiousness handed us out, and led the way to the 
dining-room in silent dignity. They seemed of a 
new race, with their tall, slender forms, prompt, deci- 
ded manners, and black beaver hats ; and when they 
opened their mouths to inquire if we wanted fire, (the 
first time, by the way, we had been offered it in an 
ItaHan inn,) they spoke as rough as Austrians, and 
aspirated every hard c^ and every ^w, as if ihey would 
have choked. To preserve a keeping with the plain 
neatness of every thing, the table was spread with a 
clean cloth, and Vicenzo, with a triumphant look, took 
his seat at the head. " Gentlemen," said he, in his 
harsh dialect, " I promised to show you something of 
Tuscany this evening, and here is certainly a supper 
better than the goat we had at Nepi ;" — and he shut 
his eyes and laughed so heartily that he did not at 
first perceive a flask of good wine which had been set 
at his elbow. " Ah ! here is some of our wine. Gen- 
tlemen please to taste that, and allow that Tuscany is 
the country of good suppers, good wine, and hand- 
some women." This sentence he concluded with a 
low bow to the innkeeper's daughters, who were in 
attendance : but they took the compliment coolly, like 
waiting gentlewoman, and with an appearance of edu- 
cation and modesty which we welcomed from our 
hearts. j|| 

Our meal was excellent; and after it was finished a 
still better sort of wine was produced, yet with such 
an air that we were convinced our fare was not supe- 
rior to that all travellers might expect at this place. 
A little excited by the unexpected excellence of our 
cheer, Alessandro undertook to question the farmer 
concerning the grounds of his faith in the miracles 
of Saint Margaret, and in some of the leading doc- 



ROAD TO FLORENCE. 337 

trines of the Catholic religion. The fluent tongue of 
the student soon gained the ascendancy, as might 
have been expected, for, though he knew little of the 
subject, and cared still less, he was deeply studied in 
the disputing art; while his antagonist, although he ha- 
bitually regulated his life by the system, seemed to be 
more and more sensible every moment that he was 
losing his cause through his incapacity to express 
what he felt : he had taken a side however, which 
greater men than he have sometimes been unable to 
support; and after saying to no effect "Every one has 
his own faith !" resorted to one of their strong holds 
in which he had much confidence — the power delega- 
ted to St. Peter " in the Bible." " But in what part of 
the Bible," inquired Alessandro, " is St. Peter autho- 
rized to transfer that power to popes, and to give 
away the keys of hell and of death ?" " Al letto !" 
[to bed,] cried the nonplussed old man ; and starting 
up seized a candle and disappeared for the night. 

But the young advocate was not yet satisfied. He 
had already shown us much respect, because he had 
heard of the republic of the United States, and be- 
cause we had been born and educated in a country of 
more freedom than he or his fathers had ever seen, 
though he had most imperfect and indefinite notions 
concerning it; and had gone as far as he dared, to con- 
vince us that his spirit was not altogether unworthy of 
America. Now he had passed the boundaries of the 
Pope's dominions, and evidently felt an unwonted se- 
curity in giving loose to the warmest expression of his 
feelings. " We have now quitted," said he, " the most 
abject nation in Europe, and the territory of the most 
pitiful prince. The Neapolitans, so long and so justly 
despised, even the Neapohtans show themselves far 
superior to the Romans, by the value they set on 



38B J^OAD TO FLORENCE. 

liberty, and the noble exertions they are making to 
obtain it. But the Romans — you must have noticed 
the narrowness of their minds — every body north of 
Ponte Molle they call a barbarian, and it has been most 
justly said that they have lost all the virtues of their 
ancestors and retained only their prejudices. They 
boast of the greatness of the ancients ; they are so 
full of it that they pretend to none of their ovrn, and 
certainly they are wise in that. But see the incon- 
sistency of these cowards. While they revere the an- 
cients, and would fain trace to them their genealogy, 
they can live beside the Neapolitans and fear to follow 
the example they are setting them, so much in the 
spirit of old Rome, for fear of forfeiting the blessing 
of their good old papa,^ And their conduct is the 
more base when we consider the extensive effects it 
is likely to produce. It is of the utmost importance 
to all Europe, that Naples should establish her own 
independence : for the eyes both of nations and of 
kings are upon her, and the event of this enterprise 
will affect the whole continent. If she is successful 
it will weaken the hands of monarchs, and encourage 
subjects to wrest the power from their grasp : if she 
is overwhelmed by the power of Austria, kings will 
become more jealous and watchful, and the situation 
of nations more abject and hopeless. This year Eu- 
rope will advance or retrograde a whole century — 
Good night, gentlemen !" 

JVear Arezzo, March 4, (at noon,) — Last night I slept 
with a crucifix and a fount for holy water at my bed's 
head — an intimation, though a solitary one, that there 
is more religion as well as more comfort in Tuscany. 
The morning was cloudy and warm, and we travelled 

* An Italian trord meaning both father and pope. 



ROAD TO FLORENCE. 3(j9 

among green hills scattered with larger and better 
houses, some of which had been built within two or 
three years, and were therefore specimens of improve- 
ment and enterprise we had long forgotten. Parties of 
peasants occasionally met us going to mass, for it is Sun- 
day, the women with white aprons, white cloths on their 
heads, and yellow and white ribbons tied about their 
shoulders. They had also quite discarded the red sto- 
machers worn in the neighbourhood of Rome, and had, 
I fancied, an unwonted air of independence in their 
motions. The men too struck me as remarkably tall, 
hard favoured and raw-boned, and are certainly de- 
scended from some race with which our eyes are not 
familiar. Two or three of the women wore narrow- 
brimmed " Leghorn" hats, though this is not the sea- 
son for them, and thus reminded me of our approach 
to the river Arno. 

While I am now writing in the carriage, an old man is 
besetting us for " carita," [charity,] which, according to 
the dialect of the country, he pronounces as if in place 
of the c, the word commenced with three our tour h's. 
Our companion of the mountains, having already 
pointed at an immense loaf of bread a woman was 
carrying by, to show us the abundance which reigns 
in Tuscany, desires us to observe also that this is the 
first beggar we have seen since we left the Roman ter- 
ritory, and that he is well dressed, and certainly not 
extravagant in his petitions, as he only asks for a 
" quattrino." 

Many of the farm-houses we passed this morning 
denoted an improved state of husbandry, by their 
size and neatness, (being usually whitewashed,) the 
plenty of implements, and the good order and abun- 
dance which seemed to reign in the barn yards. The 
marks of the army were often visible, in trampled 



390 I^^^^I^ TO FLORENCE. 

wheat-fields, broken roads, and demolished stacks of 
ha J and straw. These last are formed exactly as in 
America. 

The whole ride of this morning has been remark- 
ably pleasant, though without much variety. The 
scene has been shut in by high, olive-covered hills, 
but the road by winding through the smooth vallies 
preserved an unbroken level. These vallies are 
as usual occupied wilh grain and vines ; and the Val- 
ley of Arezzo, on which we have now entered, pre- 
sents very nearly the same appearance, except that it 
is far more extensive and cultivated in much larger 
fields. Having regaled ourselves with a slight repast 
at this inn, we have determined to proceed on foot to 
Arezzo, which is in full view on a hill about a mile be- 
fore us, while the mules are feeding. 

During our morning's ride the old Bolognese amused 
me not a little by the enthusiastic praises he bestowed 
on the countries we were approaching, and the des- 
cription he gave of the manner of living in his native 
mountains. The people subsist principally on ches- 
nuts, which grow in great abundance, and are made into 
a kind of bread. " We like it," remarked the old man, 
" as we do the mountains among which we live, though 
strangers consider them dreary and uncomfortable 
abodes.^ The country being fertile in grass, great 
numbers of cattle are raised there, which feed during 
a part of the year on the plains and marshes. In the 
winter the inhabitants, and particularly the younger 
part of them, contrive to make the time pass oflT with 
gaiety by such harmless amusements as are within 
their reach, among which are music and dances. On 
the whole the recollections of his country are cer- 
tainly very agreeable to the old man; and together 
with his sober, and honest, downright manners, made 



ROAD TO FLORENCE. 39 1 

me imagine his good wife, in her Appennine abode, 
thinking " there is na' luck about the house," in Italian, 
and a set of young mountaineers, longing for the news 
of his return, and the simple toys he doubtless has in 
his travellers' bag. He however, even he, complains of 
the injustice and violence of Napoleon ! The monas- 
teries among the mountains, though often situated in 
the most secluded places, were all discovered and pil- 
laged, if not suppressed, by the French. To a plain 
man, who, like him, maintains an unshaken confidence 
in the Romish religion, and regards every priest he 
sees as a man regularly commissioned from on High 
to take the spiritual care of others, and to translate to 
them the hidden language of the Scriptures, it may 
well be supposed deeds like these must appear sacri- 
legious. He laments them as causing the ruin of the 
only schools for the education of the poor, and the 
only asylums for the sick and the unhappy : as throw- 
ing a disgrace on his religion, and turning upon the 
wide world those who had sought refuge from its 
temptations in their cloisters. 

Monte Varchi, at evening. — The principal street of 
Arezzois a very agreeable one for a town of no great 
size, being broad, clean and well built. There is a 
small church built perfectly plain in front, but so 
painted that we at first thought it had a handsome 
piazza : a miserable substitute indeed for the rich 
ornaments and marble columns thus represented with 
mean economy. In the streets we met numbers of peo- 
ple ; among others, peasant-women, with round black 
hats, and the wives and daughters of citizens, whose 
appearance was strikingly different from that of the 
Roman and Neapolitan females. They were tall, 
slender, well formed, dressed with neatness and taste; 
with agreeable faces, in which red cheeks and black 



392 IiOAT> TO FLORENCE. 

eyes were the most striking features, as intelligence 
and unaffected modesty — nay bashfulness — were the 
first characteristics of their manners. 

We gained admittance into a nunnery yard, to see 
the remains of an ancient Roman amphitheatre. No- 
thing is now left of it except a semicircular row of dila- 
pidated brick arches, which were scattered with straw : 
the place having been lately devoted to the stabling of 
some Austrian horses, as the cells of the adjoining 
nunnery, long since deserted, furnished lodging rooms 
to the dragoons. On the top of the hill and near the 
centre of the town stands a half demolished castle, 
the cathedral or Duomo, and a plaster statue of Pe- 
trarch. I remarked that the old man who volun- 
teered to show us the most interesting objects in 
the city, called him " nostro Petrarcha," [our Pe- 
trarch.] 

I walked on three or four miles across the plain, 
before the vettura came up, and took great delight in 
the luxuriant wheat fields on both sides, which from 
their size and richness seemed able to supply a far 
greater population with abundance of food. Parties 
of peasants were returning from the town, whose florid 
faces and sprightly motions spoke in the plainest lan- 
guage the abundance and healthiness of their country. 
Their habitations were the small whitewashed cot- 
tages scattered all over the plain ; while the abodes 
of the landholders, and the great receptacles of the 
produce of the soil were seen in the occasional clus- 
ters of large barns, and spacious dwellings at a con- 
siderable distance. Several brooks crossed the road 
under fine bridges of hewn stone, whose arches are 
now greatly disproportioned to the quantity of water. 
At some seasons however, the streams are swelled to 
a dangerous current and are hardly prevented from 



ROAD TO F^ORfiNCE. 393 

tearing away the banks, bj strong abutments of square 
stones. 

At length the road rose, by a very slight ascent, to 
a level a little higher than the plain, and showed a 
surface, which though originally smooth, was broken 
by channels where streams seemed to have torn away 
the soil, as if to deposit it upon that we had just left. 
The soil that remained was evidently poor and fast de- 
teriorating, so that the buildings were fewer, and de- 
generated first to cottages, then to hovels, and finally al- 
most entirely disappeared. All signs of cultivation at 
length gave place to a dry, brown surface occasionally 
interrupted by ledges of slaty rocks, bare sand hills, 
and a few shrub oaks. 

When the two young Italians came up, they regret- 
ted we had not been with them to see a singular 
spring, to which a peasant had just directed them. 
For he told them that it was always fatal to small 
animals that approached it to drink ; and they actu- 
ally found two dead birds on the shore. Alessandro 
has no doubt that it is the place of an extinguished 
volcano. 

As we entered the dark stone gate of Monte Varchi 
the street before us was crowded with a gay throng of 
people just finishing their promenade. From the dress 
and carriage of many of the ladies, it was evident in a 
moment that there was no scarcity of intelligence and 
taste ; and we hardly saw a single female who was not 
tall, graceful and handsome. Several of our party ex- 
claimed that they had never seen so large a share of 
beauty in any other place ; and one of them, who had 
before expressed the most perfect aversion to the 
round black hats and feathers, here the universal head^ 
dress, now made a free and full recantation of his 
error. There must have been eomethii^g peculiarly 

50 



394 ROAD TO FLORENCE. 

striking in this scene; for this same friend and coun- 
trjman, who has rarely before spoken of the Italian 
fair, except to compare them with some of his trans- 
atlantic recollections, was soon found in the street, 
gazing with undisguised enthusiasm. 

Monte Yakcu^ March 5th^ at 5 in the morning. — After 
supper last evening we attended a mask ball in the 
town, which was held in the theatre. We were ad- 
mitted for a small price, about fifteen cents ; and as 
the same passage led to the galleries, boxes and pit, 
we could range about as we chose, but soon found that 
every seat was private and under a private lock, so 
that we were forced to remain standing among the 
dancers in the pit. And here was a motley company 
indeed, which when our party came in, seemed a jum- 
ble of all possible characters. The masks were a 
repetition of the unmeaning personages we had lately 
seen in Rome, with two or three harlequins, a number 
of dominos and a few of both sexes in plain dancing 
dresses. Our surprise was not a littfe excited by an 
Jlmerican savage^ who wore a close suit of linen instead 
of a blanket, and yellow boots for moccasins. He 
thought he played the savage to admiration, with his 
little wooden arrows and florid Grecian mask; but he 
was more in danger of being tak.en for a full grown 
Cupid, than for a Mohawk of any age or condition. 
Jlowever, we were not in the mood to quarrel with 
him for not knowing as much as we did, particularly 
as he seemed to shrink from our presence after Ales- 
sandro had circulated a whisper that the gentlemen in 
the corner were Americans. 

The reigning spirit of this cheerful party, was a 
young orphan girl from the neighbouring valley, who 
appeared with all the attractions of a light graceful 
form, a beautiful, smiling countenance, and an air of 



ROAD TO FLORENCE. 395 

bashful modesty, the crown of all. She was plainly 
confessed the queen of the place, and received that 
cordial but silent homage, which an hereditary prin- 
cess cannot always command. There were no striking 
Italian traits in her countenance, and indeed so far was 
it from the brunette aspect of most of her associates, 
that her fine blue eyes, her amiable and feminine, rather 
than beautiful features, accompanied with her modest 
mien, would have given her a free pass in any of our 
own villages, for one of the prettiest country girls. 
If there be any curiosity to know the style of dress at 
such a place as Monte Vaichi, the following descrip- 
tion may be relied on ; for Mr. , by whom it is fur- 
nished, passes among us as very good authority in 
matters of taste. 

" The dress of the young orphan girl I pointed out 
to you, was a thin muslin over buff, with a bright scar- 
let stomacher, like those we used to see in Rome 
among the Trasteverine, but smaller ; a worked col- 
laret falling upon the shoulders ; a necklace of red 
glass, (for her marriage portion is said to be no less 
than a thousand scudi, or dollars ;) and over her hair, 
which was abundant and dark, a garland of roses, 
which appeared like natural ones." 

Masks were never made for faces like hers, and she 
had " the gift to know it ;" though her manners spoke no 
consciousness of beauty, while she gaily threaded the 
mazes of the dance, and the notes of the music seem- 
ed to accompany her steps for their own delight. Not- 
withstanding the urbanity with which the amusements 
of the evening were conducted, Alessandro told me 
that not a single person present belonged to the 
higher class of society ; and was nearly as much sur- 
prised as ourselves, to find such polished manners cur- 
rent among the children of middling citizens and 
peasants. 



396 nbAU TO pLORENCE. 

I forgot the fatigue of the day in silently beholding 
the happiness of these gay groups, and hardly thought 
of retiring till I heard a young man announce a rainy 
night to some of his friends. " Piove ! piove !" [It 
rains, it rains,] was immediately echoed in very melan- 
choly ^ones by all the neighbourhood of masks and 
dominos. Our inn was not found without difficulty in 
the dark, and it required much hard knocking to wake 
an old woman, who I believe was not only asleep but 
deaf also, and who at length thrust her grey head out 
at a little hole above, and positively refused to admit 
me. I told her f had supped in the house and was a 
passenger in the vettura, taking care to aspirate every 
ch and qu as violently as possible ; and she at last clat- 
tered down stairs. But the door was hardly open, 
when a noise was heard in the street, and some Aus- 
trian soldiers made their appearance, with mustachios 
and bright gun-barrels, crying " acqua ! acqua ! [water, 
water,] for they had been unable to get a drop to 
drink upon the road at that late hour, and came pour- 
ing in to find the well, to the number of Miy. This 
forced hospitality was so little to the mind of my 
hostess, that she muttered many bitter wishes on all 
strangers without distinction, while 1 hastened to my 
chamber, already occupied by my five fellow-travel- 
lers, and threw myself on the very poorest bed 1 have 
seen in Italy. 

It is now about daybreak, and we are still waiting 
for our temporizing coachman and his perverse mules. 
We are told that a large body of troops are expected 
to-day; and that, if we take the road in season, we 
may pass them before they begin their march. 

Piano della Fonte, 10 A. M. — We have come 
about twelve miles, the first part of which lay along 
the edge of a valley two miles in breadth, broken by 
innumerable hills, flat on the top, and divided by 



ROAD TO FJLORENCE. 397 

ravines two hundred feet deep. This is evidently the 
ruins of an old plain, originally formed by soil washed 
down from the surrounding mountains, and afterwards, 
by some unaccountable change, cut in pieces and half 
ruined. 

Our inn had promised us much comfort and honesty 
at our first entrance; for the great room has a fire- 
place, its walls are painted with birds and flower-pots, 
the beaufet has an open-work door, through which the 
tea-cups and saucers, with the other apparatus of the 
great permanent table, are ranged in careful order, 
and the chairs have straight backs and rush-bottoms. 
My companions, however, have been presented with a 
most unreasonable bill, after a slight repast, and feel 
like cheated travellers. The young advocate, like a 
true scholar as he is, sought relief for his spleen in 
writing with his pencjl this satirical couplet on the 
wall— 

" Mira il quadro, rnira la pittxira — 
L'oste '16 gran ladro di natura." 

which may mean, either that the host has robbed nature 
in decorating his walls, or, that he is a born thief. On 
a more close examination it was discovered, when too 
late, that many travellers had left similar memorials, 
of previous instances of extortion ; so that the leaves 
of non-descript flowers, and the breath of gaudy birds, 
were alike occupied with warnings and protests, in 
English, French, and Italian, together with several in 
Dutch and German, which, though uniritelligible to us, 
«o abounded in outrageous orthography, that we were 
willing to lend them our sympathy on trust. 

As we proceeded on our way, the hills, which be- 
fore had been entirely barren, began to be planted 
with olive trees, whose thick, evergreen foliage, is pe- 



39JI flOAD TO FLORENCE. 

culiarly grateful to the eye at this season of the year. 
By degrees the soil increased in depth, until fertility 
became the predominating feature; and at last the un- 
dulating surface was covered with olives, and afforded 
a prospect, from e\evy little eminence, like our Ame- 
rican woods in June. The I'nscan farmer regretted 
the unpleasant weather: for the sky was cloudy, and 
threatened rain. He had hoped to show us the valley 
of the " Arne" under more favourable circumstances. 

Neat white houses, built of stone and plastered all 
over, had now become very frequent; the ground be* 
gan to be enclosed here and there with stone walls, 
for vineyards and gardens, and we often passed beau- 
tiful villas, the access to which was by smooth gravel 
walks, bordered with flowers, or shady paths winding 
among thick shrubs and dai*k trees. The clouds at 
length broke away ; and having reached the top of a 
hill, we looked between two mouDtains upon an exten- 
sive tract of level country ; where every thing at first 
looked indistinct, on account of the strong lights and 
shades with which it was mottled. The nearer part 
of it was cultivated, with all the regularity and heauty 
of the valley of Arezzo. The outline of a large city, 
with domes and towers, was seen at the distance of a 
few miles, darkened by the shade of a cloud ; and the 
level surface spread out beyond, every where dotted 
with vineyards, till it was lost in the immense dis- 
tance, and could no longer be distinguished. Moun- 
tains dimly bouiided the plain ; and among the green 
of olive trees with which they were enveloped, showed 
a thousand white houses and villas, some of which 
were shining bright in the sun, but appeared fainter 
and fainter at each succeeding hill, which stretched 
out upon the valley of the Arno like the bold capes of 
some verdant coast encroaching upon the level sur- 



FLORENCE. 3^9 

face of the ocean. " Ecco Firenza !" (instead of Fi- 
renze,) " There is Florence !" exclaimed the old Tus- 
can farmer, with as much enthusiasm as if he had been 
monarch of the country ; and I could no longer doubt 
the poverty of ray imagination, in its attempt to pitch 
the scene on a scale of appropriate magnificence. 

Houses, gardens and villas, passed in rapid succes- 
sion, (considering the moderate pace of our mules,) 
and when we had descended upon the plain, and had 
almost reached Florence, we overtook groups of pea- 
sants, masked and dressed in the gayest manner; and 
whole families- — nay, neighbourhoods of little children, 
hurrying on to the city in high glee, in their holyday 
clothes, carrying baskets of flowers, and many of them 
with wreaths of roses in their hair. 

The first sight of Florence was calculated to make 
an agreeable impression upon us, though the old 
man declared that we saw the most indifferent en- 
trance to the city : for the streets were broad, straight, 
well built, and above all swept very clean, and showed 
fine smooth pavements very encouraging to habitual 
pedestrians, who had endured the trials of so many 
filthy, half-paved streets, in Naples and many parts of 
Rome. This being the last day but one of the carni- 
val, we hastened to the streets on the river's bank, 
where the crowds were collecting. Here were un- 
known faces, disguised for various objects. Some ex- 
erted all their talents to excite a laugh, by their feats 
or their remarks; some had dressed themselves to at- 
tract attention, others to deceive their friends Here 
were many of the peasant girls from the neighbouring 
parts of the valley, wearing black hats and feathers, 
scarlet stomachers, large ear-rings, and other quaint 
ornaments, accompanied by their rustic families and 
friends; and travellers, principally English, walking 



400 FLORENCE. 

and staring at the sight like ourselves. Mysterious do- 
minos were silently stealing about, apparently watch- 
ing the steps of their suspected friends. The latter 
dress however is frequently resorted to for mere dis- 
guise, as was shown particularly by three figures, so 
enveloped in black dominos that it was impossible to 
see any thing of their faces or forms. They were con- 
tinually dancing about, and whenever they recognised 
an acquaintance, formed a circle around him, with 
loud cries in voices far above the natural pitch, and, 
if a mask, make some sign to show he was known, 
then suddenly scattering left him gazing after them 
like a statue of doubt. One of this trio was surpri- 
singly active and graceful, and entered with so much 
spirit into the amusement, as to make us forget for a 
moment the disgust caused by the predominating stu- 
pidity and nonsense of the crowds. At the same time 
her voice, which was sometimes heard in its natural 
tones, half reconciled the ear to the harsh and ludi- 
crous dialect of Tuscany. The display however still 
seems a ridiculous one. " The Turks say," said my 
friend P. on the way from Naples to Rome, '^ the 
Turks say, referring to the carnival, that there is a 
moon when the Franks are mad." 

Florence, March 5, (noon.) — During a walk this 
morning, one of those itinerant musicians, who are 
very common at this season, attracted my notice. He 
was a sickly, middle-aged man, and in company with 
his little son was patroling the city, in a coat which 
spoke but Jittle of the festivities of the carnival, but 
told long stories of its master's perennial poverty. As 
I entered a street, 1 heard the sound of his guitar and 
voice, and found he was pouring the full tide of his 
song into the ear of a smart shop-keeper, against whose 
door he had taken his post. As his poetic effusion was 



FLORENCE. ^Qj 

fast drawing to a close, the ever- watchful urchin had 
to perform the grateful task of bearing a small gift t© 
the ready cap of his father; and this produced an ad- 
ditional stanza to the smooth little poem, which was 
appended with no small facility and grace, in the form 
of an apostrophe. The Christian name of the benefi- 
cent shop-keeper was introduced, from the sign over 
his door, and made to fill an important place in the 
first line, while the two or three remaining ones were 
neatlj turned with a few common-place encomiums, 
and followed hard by the impatient and monotonous 
symphony. 

There is something in the situation of this spot of 
earth, which gives the people musical hearts and po- 
etical tongues. While 1 am writing, 1 hear the notes 
of three different bands, in the full exertion of their 
skill; yet 1 cannot but pronounce them unvarying and 
tedious, though I feel that in so doing I contradict my 
own inclination, which would lead me to like all I see 
and hear, with the beautiful banks of the Arno under 
my eye, the gay and exhilarating sight of a collecting 
masquerade, and a bright Italian sun shining gaily in 
at my window. How often have I imagined a scene 
like this, in the midst of such a classic land, with 
every thing fair and happy around me, where nothing 
was to be discovered but such things as please the 
eye and the ear, and nothing obtruded to recal the 
mind to the unwelcome realities of this unsatisfactory 
state of existence : when the world seemed enveloped 
in a new and brilliant mask, without a crevice to 
betray the real character concealed beneath ; and 
now, so like my childish dreams does this gay page- 
antry appear, I often start and ask whether it is true 
that I am actually awake. Among the staid, mo- 
derate habits of America, we can hardly convince 

51 



402 FLORENCE. 

ourselves that so much of the brilliancy of ancient 
days still remains in the world ; and could hardly call 
up such a scene to our imagination without referring 
it to the pompous days of chivalry and crusades, 
when — 

" Knig-hts, with a loDg- retinue of their squires, 
In gaudy livVies, march'd and quaint attires," 

But here this fantastic show seems repeated in all its 
native extravagance; and I cannot well express what 
are my feelings when I plunge into the multitude, and 
find myself surrounded by broad- skirted coats, long 
waists, and stuffed gowns of dazzling colours and 
cloth of gold, while every face regards with perfect 
composure the splendid variety which well nigh drives 
me mad. This day is to conclude the Carnival, and 
tp-night is to be held the great ball, which lasts till 
midnight. 

Florence, March 7. — The display of equipages in 
the Corso yesterday was very splendid : but such 
a sight would always disgust me because the object 
is the gratification of a pitiful vanity, totally undis- 
guised and unrelieved by any thing more respectable. 
The procession of carriages and horses, some loaded 
with vain simperers and others entirely empty, is so 
perfectly unmeaning: it is neither religious, civil, nor 
military ; it commemorates nothing ; it refers to no- 
thing; it has no starting place, and goes lio whither — 
it is a mere revolution, down the Corso on one side, 
and up on the other, at the pace of a horse in a mill ; 
and to me it possesses no small share of the stupidity 
of such an exhibition. The Duke Borghese, so famous 
for the number and excellence of his horses, is of 
course admirably calculated for reaping renown on 
such an occasion as this, and no less than four of the 
coaches parading before us were his. It is lamentable 



FLORENCE. 



403 



that his weahh and influence should be diverted from 
their proper course — the improvement of his country — 
into so selfish and puerile a channel. The money vest- 
ed in his surplus palaces, casini, pleasure-grounds, 
horses, carriages, and servants, would endow many a 
noble institution, in which, if he and the Grand Duke 
thought proper, the Florentines might soon be taught 
to despise all this useless ostentation. An Ameri- 
can is amused with the novelty and splendour of the 
scene; but it would be as impossible for fiim to enjoy 
its frequent repetition, as for one of these common 
Italians to enter into the habits of our country. 

The bank of the Arno, and the adjoining square 
and corridors of the Public Palace, were crowded to 
excess with a motley multitude of maskers, from nine 
o'clock (by our watches four) till late dusk. The 
same confusion prevailed as yesterday, and the same 
extravagant but unmeaning scenes were presented, by 
thousands of beings, most of them ignorant of each 
other, and all still passing eagerly on with heads as 
hollow as the masks they wore. There were not 
wanting some however, who showed a few sparks of 
humour, and proved that they at least had some ap- 
prehension of what a masquerade should be. But 
I will first enumerate the diflerent personages who 
formed the great mass, and were continually passing 
before the eye, like the visions of a feverish dream; 
and then attempt to introduce a few more consistent 
characters. 

Themajority of the throng was composed of an end- 
less variety of masks and dominos; and among these 
mingled, here and there, whole families of hale and 
laughing peasants from the neighbouring farm-houses: 
the men usually in short jackets, and the women in round 
black beaver hats, decorated with sable plumes. One 



404 FLORENCE. 

of the most favourite dresses of the young ladies was 
gay in the extreme, yet often extremely becoming to a 
small and graceful figure. It was nearly a copy of a 
dress 1 have already noticed at Rome, and consisted of 
a short coloured gown, ornamented stockings, wooden 
shoes, a short stomacher of bright scarlet, a light 
shawl or handkerchief, long and loose sleeves, rib- 
bons tied to the shouldeis, the features concealed by 
a smooth Grecian mask, and the hair beautifully 
braided with wreaths of flowers. Some of them add- 
ed white veils, and others long white handkerchiefs 
fastened over their combs, and falling on the shoul- 
ders; or a knot of hair was gathered on the top of 
the head, and two or three silver ribbons, half a yard 
in length, streamed out in the air. Harlequins, in their 
parti-coloured suits, were as usual performing their 
pranks, brandishing their magical wooden swords, and 
spending as much time as possible off the ground ; while 
Pucinella, or Punch, with his white gown and sugar- 
loaf cap, poured out his wit as fluently, and with as 
much effect, as if he had been still on the stage, and 
acting on a preconcerted scheme. 

Three men in the antiquated dress of students, went 
about with huge illuminated volumes pressed under 
their arms, holding abstruse disquisitions on literary 
subjects, and frequently stopping to refer to disputed 
passages, or even to indulge in a brown study, in 
the very thickest of the crowd, from whom they re- 
ceived many a rough though undesigned thrust and 
buffet. Nothing however could avail to discompose 
the gravity of their faces, and I believe a thunder 
storm would not have interrupted the thread of their 
discourse; for the tricks and railleries of Harlequin 
and Pucinella were entirely wasted on them, al- 
though they raised shouts for a wide extent around. 



FLORENCE. 



405 



Bat even this noisy mirth was occasionally drowned 
by the notes of four or five musicians, who were con- 
stantly changing their place, and more than once 
brushed by this comic party, plying without mercy 
their jangling strings, in the most savage symphony 1 
ever heard. Their leader was a tall, ragged person- 
age, who performed the part of an improvisatore, but 
in so high a style of burlesque, that I think I can 
never lose the recollection of his looks and actions. 
He was painted in such a manner as to give his coun- 
tenance an expression of the utmost self-complacency, 
and yet to counteract all the kind designs of nature 
in rendering it agreeable. These itinerants were en- 
tirely abstracted from every thing except their own 
immediate concerns. Whenever they stopped, it was 
with their faces fixed on their leader; and though in 
the thickest crowd, paid not the least regard to any 
thing about them. The poet would sometimes assume 
the air of one in the highest regions of poetic rapture, 
looking into some distant cloud, and trilling till he 
shook in his shoes ; while his concepti ons were often 
of the most ludicrous kind, and his lines ran on and 
halted in a style quite irresistible. This seemed to 
transport his companions, who would gaze upon him in 
silence through their hideous masks, and then ex- 
changing looks of approbation, open their throats, and 
join their hoarse voices in a thundering chorus. 

A mock editor and his wife excited much mirth, by 
their severe strictures on different works, which I 
judged to be the current publications of the day. 

These and other parties were sometimes interrupted 
by a Neapolitan tinker, who would seat himself on the 
ground near the students, the musicians or the editor, 
and deliberately set himself to hammer on a noisy old 
kettle, and to talk in the drawling tones of our old 



406 FLORENCE. 

friend Mattia, about the exceptionable circumstances 
he met with in Florence, and the superior beauties of 
the baj of Naples, in such a style however as to excite 
aloud laugh in every Florentine that heard him. 

On one occasion I was nearly overset by three 
black dominos, who rushing impetuously through the 
crowd, hastily accosted a tall, raw Enghsh traveller, 
expressing the most extravagant joy at meeting him, 
and by their loud, but disguised voices, fixing on him 
the gaze of all the by standers. The poor stranger 
stood quite abashed, for he could not comprehend a 
single word they said, and was bewildered by their 
volubility, while they joined hands and gaily danced 
round him, led by the little mysterious spirit of yester- 
day, who was again on her rambles, and in still higher 
glee than before. At a signal from her in a sweet lit- 
tle voice, but in the rough dialect of Tuscaijy, they 
suddenly broke away, and were instantly lost in the 
crowd. 

Most ludicrous scenes were often occasioned by the 
meeting of the students, the author, the improvisa- 
tore, and numberless other characters who frequently 
crossed each other's track. Sometimes Pucinella was 
seen disputing the road with a pompous little perso- 
nage, in a broad-skirted laced dress, and with all the 
airs of an ancient gentleman. But the strongest and 
most unexpected contrasts might be discovered by 
watching such persons as were returning, or sought an 
opportunity to adjust their masks, when they consi- 
dered themselves unnoticed. Here a fair Grecian 
face might be seen imposed upon a low forehead, 
a broad month, and perhaps a pug nose; the smooth- 
ly painted cheek of one who had passed for a beautiful 
lady, would betray a huge pair of whiskers ; or a visage 
wrinkled and distorted by antiquity would suddenly 



FLORENCE. 407 

give place to a gay young face, whose laughing eyes 
had long belied the mask. 

The ball in the evening was extremely tedious, 
though I exerted myself to smile ; I fancied that all 
around me felt some portion of my indifference, and 
that their cheerfulness was as much affected as my 
own. Indeed I cannot easily imagine how it could 
have been otherwise. Allowing something fascina- 
ting in the childish sports of a carnival, the confor- 
mation of the human system will not allow a very 
long round of this state of enjoyment ; and though the 
Italian spirits are probably more elastic than mine, yet 
I think I have seen them sinking under an excess of 
hilarity. 

The pit was crowded with masked dancers, and the 
boxes with persons of superior pretensions, some of 
whom were of high rank Prince Maximilian was there 
with his three daughters, one of whom is to marry the 
Grand Duke of Tuscany. Here however were not to 
be discovered any of those traits of physiognomy 
which we consider the indications of peculiarly great 
minds ; and the advocates of the superior blood of 
princes and nobles would find it difficult to show the 
proof of it in the head, the eye, or any of the features. 
Had thf»y, on the contrary, possessed the beauty of 

Signora , an actress who was present, the question 

might have been considered a much clearer one. 

J stepped into the apartments where the mask 
dresses are kept to let, and I am sure saw some which 
might have disguised a man from his father and 
mother. Some of them appeared to have been dis- 
played on many a masquerade long gone by and for- 
gotten ; but it served to depreciate the candlelight 
splendour of the gay dances in the other part of 
the house to examine these fabrics near at hand, and 



408 FLORENCE. 

to hear the prices at which thej were let for the 
evening. 

I retired long before the assembly dispersed, leaving 
them to surfeit over the last repast they are to taste 
for forty days. As if to brave a custom they are yet 
afraid to transgress, on the last evening of the car- 
nival suppers are furnished to those who visit the 
theatre, and are eaten by each party separately in 
the boxes. At midnight, when they are to move to 
church to have a handful of dust thrown upon them by 
the priest, to remind them of their mortality, they have 
usually prepared themselves, like Captain Dalgetty, 
with provant for a three days' siege, and thus take care 
to begin their fast with an abundant banquet. 

To-day the city wore such an appearance of silence 
and desertion, that it seems to be no longer Florence. 
The few persons in the streets look as if they could 
never have seen yesterday, and the burthen of their 
hearts appears to be a dismal prospect of salt fish for 
the next six weeks. The Corso is a broad, empty 
street, and the Lung' Arno is entirely deserted. 

The Museum of Florence contains fine cabinets of 
all the branches of Natural History, far too large and 
splendid to be described with any degree of justice 
even in a large volume. The specimens in the Cabi- 
net of Anatomy are all of wax, moulded and coloured 
with the utmost perfection, furnishing students with 
subjects nearly as just as natural ones, and far more 
convenient and agreeable. They are not confined to 
the human frame, but embrace the anatomy of various 
inferior animals. Preparations of this sort are now to 
be found in various parts of the world, but Florence 
is the place where the art began, under a monk of a 
gloomy character, and whence other countries have 
been supplied. Some specimens have lately been sent 



FLORENCE. 4Q9 

to America, particularly to Cambridge College, to 
facilitate the study of anatomy. The largest and most 
complete statues cost seven hundred and fifty zecchini, 
or dollars, and are packed in such a manner as to be 
transported in perfect safety. 

But the mind of the inventor of this singular art did 
not allow him to rest here. As if he had acquired a 
love for what is revolting to human nature, by a familia- 
rity with anatomical horrors, he next turned his atten- 
tion into a still more gloomy channel, viz. to represent 
in all its stages the progress of the plague, which in the 
year 1632 ravaged the city of Florence, and destroyed 
so large a portion of its inhabitants. " The Chamber 
of the Plague'''^ appeared to me as I entered it much 
like what my childish imagination used to represent 
the fatal apartment of Blue Beard, in which he placed 
the corpses of his murdered wives. The walls were 
hung with cases containing small waxen figures, only a 
few inches high, intended to represent the marks of 
the disease in its various stages; and the work was 
performed in so masterly a manner as to produce very 
nearly the same effect on the mind, as if they had been 
real. Here the object was not, as in the anatomical 
cabinet, to facilitate the study of an useful science ; 
but principally, as it would seem, to shock the feelings. 
One of the groups presents the affecting sight of an 
affectionate family just entered by the plague ; and a 
beautiful daughter is turning pale and languid under 
the influence of the incipient disease, while the coun- 
tenances of her friends show the dread with which 
they receive the unwelcome visitant. Like the other 
specimens, the composition, the colouring, the postures, 
and the whole arrangement of the groups, would have 
done credit to a painter or a sculptor; and display an 
acquaintance with the secret of effect, which would 

52 



410 



FLORENCE. 



hav^ been more welcome in more agreeable subjects* 
Yet notwithstanding the shocking nature of the scenes, 
the attention is almost irresistibly attracted to them, 
and the distinctness with which their memory is pre- 
served will prove the interest which they excite in the 
feelings. 

There is a darkened apartment, where an anxious 
family are collected round the bed of the father, 
emaciated and sinking under the last stages of the 
disease ; while the attention of his daughter is fixed 
on the infant in her arms, whose hanging head and 
languid limbs speak too plainly the cause of her 
anxiety. In another place, an old man and an affianced 
bride are found in the street, weeping over the body 
of a noble young man, who has fallen a hasty vic- 
tim to the plague, and has been dragged from his 
house, and thrown in his usual dress among a heap of 
corpses. The more we looked the more we were dis- 
tressed, yet still we stood looking on. To pass by 
seemed like want of sympathy for our wretched fellow 
Creatures, for such they almost appeared ; and when 
we half recollected that they were but images, we 
inquired, how any one could find in his heart to invent 
such a scene. Indeed it is unaccountable, unless the 
author had somewhere learnt to glory over the most 
poignant distresses of humanity. How could he form 
a heap of corpses, and exert himself to make the scene 
look deserted and silent, and then lay in the most con- 
spicuous place the dead body of a young woman, and 
put a living infant on her breast? — Spread out the 
valley of the Arno beyond, show smoking piles where 
the dead were burning, send dogs to prowl around the 
fields, and flocks of crows to darken the air ? Yet there 
is still something beyond — the tomb itself is opened, 
5and its interior is exposed to view ! — But let us hasten 



FLORENCE. 4H 

out of the Chamber of the Plague, and seek more 
agreeable objects than these. 

Three apartments are devoted to the display of spe^ 
cimens in Entomology; and though the majority of 
insects must necessarily be taken in company with 
crooked horns and long legs, or are rendered uninte- 
resting by their microscopic size, some of them can 
display a richness and variety of colours calculated to 
excite the envy of the birds, and even of the very 
flowers themselves, if they were capable of it. There 
were many individuals of the worthy family of the 
stag-beetles, with claws almost as large as lobsters ; 
but we stopped only long enough to see that each was 
well secured in his place with a large iron pin. Next 
we saw a full assortment of spiders, from those of 
the smallest up to Tarantulas as big as crabs. These 
we passed with an involuntary shudder at the reflec- 
tion that they had once been all alive ; and then suc- 
ceeded thousands of little insects, with wings and 
without : galliriippers, musquetoes, midges, sand-flies, 
punkies, &;c. &:c. some of which hardly seemed to dot 
the cards on which they were fastened. Finally the 
more gawdy insects began to show their glittering 
armour and their painted wings ; and graceful forms 
were mingled with brilliant hues and the lustre of the 
richest metals. Now came whole rows of butterflies 
from all quarters of the world, increasing in size and 
beauty, till they ended at one whose wings were 
spread like a man's hands, and cast a broad yellow 
light like sheets of gold leaf. 

The display of shells in the Cabinet of Concho- 
logy was no less extensive, and not less calculated to 
please the eye of an unlearned spectator. Here were 
white, coloured and variegated shells, smooth, hollow, 
and twisted, picked up on many a far distant shore, 



412 FRORENCE. 

and fished up from half the bays and rivers on the 



globe. 



Eight rooms are devoted to the minerals alone, 
and present many specimens of inestimable value to 
a man of science, among which the first place is un- 
questionably due to the magnificent collection of iron 
ores from the neighbouring island of Elba. 

Beside these apartments through which we have run 
so hastily, there are separate parts of the building 
devoted to the collections of plants, stuffed birds and 
beasts ; and when taken together, the Museum of Flo- 
rence ranks among the finest in Europe. 

It seems that all the Austrian troops have not yet 
passed us. A report was circulated to-day that three 
thousand were to march through the city this after- 
noon : but after we had taken the pains to walk some 
distance, and waited with patience a considerable 
time, we found it would be to no purpose, and were 
obliged to return without seeing them. The king of 
Naples is however confidently expected to-morrow. 
The government are peculiarly on the watch at the 
present time to prevent any disturbance of the public 
peace : for the Neapolitan army, by the bold posture it 
maintains at so small a distance from this city, has ex- 
cited the feelings of the Florentines to a considerable 
degree, and the extensive society of the Carbonari 
would be much dreaded, if the Austrians should prove 
unsuccessful. The newspapers are so entirely under 
the control of the government, that they speak of 
nothing but the miserable prospects of the Neapoli- 
tans ; and yesterday a mask was arrested by the police, 
for bearing some symbol which was supposed to have 
a political reference. An Englishman who has been a 
resident in the city for some time, has been admonished ^ 
for expressing his sentiments too freely, and advised to 1| 



I 



FLORENCE. 4] 3 

ibe more cautious for fear of difficulty. Although in 
such a stale of anxiety it is not safe to depend on all 
the accounts which are circulated, especially concern- 
ing distant parts of the country, it is certain that there 
is some disturbance in the north. Yesterday an Eng- 
lish gentleman with his wife arrived from Trieste, 
where they have resided for some time, having been 
ordered to leave the city on pain of having their pro- 
perty confiscated, and at a very short notice. The 
gentleman had not even time to make the necessary 
arrangements for transferring his money. 

Notwithstanding the various attractions of Flo- 
rence therefore, it seems prudent to hasten our de- 
parture before the gathering storm shall overtake us. 
If the Austrians should meet with a defeat at Rieti, it 
is impossible to tell what great obstacles might be 
thrown in our way. This part of the country would 
certainly be put in great agitation, and travelling 
would probably become difficult if not dangerous. 

Florence, JV/arc/i 8. — The Boboli Gardens, which we 
visited this morning, presented a magnificent sight, but 
they too seemed to partake of the gloomy aspect of 
the town and the weather. The sky is cloudy, and the 
air colder than we have lately been accustomed to, 
though it is what is more prevalent in Florence than 
farther below, nearer the mouth of the Arno. The 
neighbourhood of the hills in the upper parts of the 
valley are more favourable to the collection of clouds 
and vapours. The Palace Pitti is a large and imposing 
structure, but without external architectural ornament 
of any description ; and the Boboli Gardens behind it 
abound in broad parterres, smooth gravel walks, rows 
of evergreens, fine ranges of stone steps, statues, tem- 
ples, and fountains; as well as with the minor, but to 
rae more attractive beauties, of shady and secluded 



414 FLORENCE. 

paths through untnmmed groves, with here and there 
ail accidental glimpse of the distant landscape, and a 
few neglected spots where even the gardener never in- 
trudes. We were close by the city wall, and the crowd- 
ed town lay below us. with its fine domes and towers, 
and the long roofs of its numerous palaces ; while the 
vineyards and canals appeared all over the plain, and 
many a country house was seen gleaming through the 
misty air on the surrounding hills. 

The Gallery of Florence was the next object of our 
attention ; but it will be necessary here only to remark 
that it contains the Venus de Medicis, and several 
other invaluable specimens of ancient sculpture; some 
of Rafael's master-pieces, and the Medician Jewels. 
These last are gemsof every description, brought from 
all parts of the world which were visited by the ships 
of the Medici, and after having been wrought and 
arranged by the skill of Florentine artists, were depo- 
sited here together. They almost completely cover 
the walls of an entire apartment ; and make so daz- 
zling a display that 1 sought in vain for any thing to 
compare with it, except the cave of Aladdin. With 
regard to the room in which the statue of Venus is 
placed, together with the pictures of the Baker's 
daughter and St. John the Baptist by Rafael, I can 
hardly say how much I was delighted with them, nor 
how much i wished that America might possess such 
specimens of the arts. With my views of the sub- 
ject, the cultivation of painting and sculpture in our 
country should be promoted by every one who has the 
power ; though architecture must have its limit among 
a people where there are no kings nor nobles, and 
where there ought to be no aristocracy. Beyond that 
limit, it would not be patriotic to wish architecture 
extendnd 



FLORENCE. 415 

The population of Florence is of a totally different 
description from that of Naples ; and even when a 
traveller compares it with that of Rome, he will very 
soon give it the preference. Florence is not a sea-port, 
but an indnstrious inland city: and is besides free 
from Lazzaroni. It is distinguished from Rome by the 
want of antiquities and ruins, which in that ancient 
capital of the world breed so many troublesome cice- 
roni. The consequence is that a stranger is rarely 
accosted by any of those ragged liers-in-wait, and is 
allowed to pursue his way in peace, and enjoy all the 
luxuries of level pavements, clean and quiet streets. 
Here every body seems to be employed ; and if one 
has occasion to inquire the way of a passenger, he 
is replied to with the alacrity of an obhging disposition, 
and not with one eye fixed upon an expected reward. 
There is an independence and an honest bluntness in 
the poorer sort of people, which is the more welcome as 
it reminds me of America : a country that grows pre- 
cious in my eyes, when contrasted with the servility of 
the Neapolitans and Romans, who have so often pressed 
their officious services, and bowed so low as to seem 
to lay their humble services at my feet. We have 
certainly begun our travels at the right point, for 
every thing improves, and promises still to improve 
the further we proceed. It is going back to past centu- 
ries to land at Naples ; and travelling north is to move 
along with time and the gradual progress of society. 
Yet by far the greater portion of space still lies in re- 
gions beyond us ; and before we can expect to arrive 
where the comforts of life are best enjoyed, and mental 
and moral and religious improvement are found farthest 
advanced, " through what new scenes and changes 
must we pass !" Every new report from the north 
admonishes us of the uncertain state of political af- 



416 FLORENCE. 

fairs, of changes in preparation and of pending revo- 
lutions ; and recals the many unwelcome realities of 
our unwonted situation — in the midst of ancient king- 
doms at a moment when the final explosion may be 
prepared, which is to overthrow for ever the systems 
on which they have existed for ages. Reflections like 
these are not always the most agreeable, yet there is 
something pleasant in having the feelings raised above 
the ordinary pitch, although the subjects may them- 
selves be of no welcome nature. The insecurity of 
every thii^g about us, superadded to the numberless 
and extravagant abuses of men and things inherent in 
a government like this, constantly inchnes us to refer 
to our ow^n country and doubly to prize its customs 
and its institutions. 

I have a few words more to say of poets, our party 
having it seems stimulated the muse of a poor rhymer, 
who appeared at our door last evening with a modest 
tap and a sonnet in Italian and French, to welcome our 
arrival. It was addressed to Mr. and his compa- 
nions, and certainly contained compliments enough for 
a much greater number, Florence — the city of Flora 
— was represented as taking an extraordinary interest 
in us honest travellers, and even arraying herself in 
fresh flowers at our approach. While such was the 
drift of the song, it may be presumed we easily found 
marks of genius in the author: for in a moderate 
length of time he had succeeded in saying a great 
deal, in a few very handsome lines. But our vanity 
was severely checked, and the character of the poet 
suddenly sunk in our estimation, when one of our 
friends informed us that he had been favoured with a 
copy of the same verses only two or three days before. 

1 embraced an opportunity afforded last evening by 
the company of a Florentine gentleman, to make some 



' FLORENCE. 4] 7 

particular inquiries concerning the manufacture of 
straw hats, which is carried on to such an extent in 
the neighbouring country. It hardly needs to be men- 
tioned that what are called Leghorn hats in America, 
are made all over the valley of the Arno by the pea- 
santry, and derive their name from their being ex- 
ported from Leghorn. 

The straw of which they are made is furnished 
by a species of wheat, called " Grano Marzolo," or 
March grain, because it is sown in that month. For 
the purpose of making the stalks as tough and as 
small as possible, the poorest soil is selected, and 
twice as much seed is sown 011 a given surface as if it 
were intended for food. It is pulled in June, just as 
it begins to blossom; and the upper joints are cut off 
and tied together in little bundles. The lower part 
of the straw is of no use in the manufacture. The 
process of bleaching is very delicate and difficult. In 
fine weather the bundles are exposed to the morning 
dew, and then dried in the sun as it rises. But it is 
necessary to be very cautious, lest they should suffer 
from the mildews produced by storms and cloudy 
weather. 

Florence, March 9. — There are four bridges over 
the Arno, of different construction and different dates, 
but placed at very nearly equal distances. One of 
them supports two rows of tall stone houses, and 
might be easily mistaken for a street. Booths project 
from the ground stories of these buildings, and are 
filled with a thousand articles exposed for sale, much 
after the fashion which existed many years ago in 
the streets of London, and I believe in other cities 
of Europe. While lounging near that place this morn- 
ing, we heard a rumour that the king of Naples 
was just entering the city; and as this was immedi- 

53 



4 IB FLORENCE. 

ately confirmed by the ringing of the church bells, we 
hastened along to catch a glimpse of that base-spirited 
monarch. The crowd increased as we proceeded, 
though there was but a short time for it to assemble ; 
and before we had gone far, two couriers made their 
appearance, followed at no great distance and at a 
round trot by the royal coach. Hats were doffed, 
and a murmur ran along the crowd as it passed ; but 
the king seemed too much occupied with some merry 
matter to notice any thing around, for he was laugh- 
ing heartily with his companions, who wore so much 
of that wo-begone expression of countenance which 
men assume after a repetition of laughs cruelly forced, 
that I really pitied them. His Majesty's features do 
justice to his character — he has a good Bourbon face 
— gross features, the indication of a gross and selfish 
mind. He is to remain in Florence until the question 
shall be decided between Austria and his undutiful 
subjects. The issue is yet extremely doubtful. The 
Austrian soldiers are more hardy, sober, and powerful 
men, than I expected to find them, and f fear they will 
prove too strong for those they are marching against 
— I cannot call them enemies, for they certainly bear 
them no ill will. 

The situation of the Neapolitans is extremely 
doubtful. The two armies at Rieti, after having re- 
mained inactive within view of each other for some 
days, have at length had a partial engagement, in 
which, it is reported, the Austrians have lost two hun- 
dred men, and eight thousand rations. It is to be 
hoped that none of our late dinner companions are 
among the fallen; above all Yohann and Harga (if 
that was his name,) and their master — no, no, I hope 
he may yet escape the dangers of war ; for there is 
something in Austria he loves better than glory, 



FT.ORENCK. 



419 



Florence, March 10. — The gloom of the dark pa- 
laces by which some of the streets are shaded rather 
than ornamented, seems increased by the cloudy wea* 
ther, and the melancholy face of Lent, so strongly 
contrasted with the sunny days and the smiles and 
gaiety of the carnival. The only music now to be 
heard is the chaunting of a few solemn parties, who, 
instead of extemporaneous songs, sing printed hymns 
to the saints and the holy mother. The people be- 
take themselves to the churches, though in no great 
numbers considering the size of the city ; and to 
judge from their appearance one would think they 
were heartily sick of the carnival, and penitent for 
every mask they have worn, and for all the antic 
tricks they have played amongst the congregation 
of fools. 

One regrets to find in Florence in the midst of so 
many remains of wealth, a strong tincture of the taste 
of barbarians. The palaces have already been men- 
tioned ; many of which, in every point of view, pre- 
sent as little architectural beauty as the gloomy walls 
of a fortress. The cathedral and several churches, 
though large and in many respects fine buildings, are 
covered with black and white marble, so arranged as 
to form a thousand square and oblong figures of no 
meaning and no use. While fine specimens of the 
ancient style remain, it argues ill of their taste to find 
them preferring the trifling complications of barba- 
rian edifices. It is indeed gloomy : it seems to indi- 
cate that there is a natural bad taste in man; and 
certainly tends to raise our ideas of the genius that 
first ascertained the true principles of architecture, 
and combined in all their purity the elements of thf» 
Grecian style. 



420 



IMGUOnK. 



Leghorn, March 1 1 . — At six this moi*ning we left 
Florence, and travelled down the valley along the 
course of the Arno. It is a turbid and swift river; 
and from that circumstance it is to be concluded that 
the flat country through which it runs, slopes with a 
gradual descent towards the ocean. This delightful 
valley, which is about fifty miles in length, has been 
formed in the course of ages, by the soil washed down 
from the ridges of the mountains that surround it^ 
and gradually approach each other as they retire into 
the Country, although they separate themselves in 
some places to the breadth of full thirty miles. After 
an hour or two we found the river leaving for a time 
the plain, to run between the broken hills on its bor- 
ders ; and were immediately surrounded with scenery 
of a character strikingly different — hills almost inac- 
cessible rising suddenly from the river, which now ran 
with a more gentle current, and seemed to force its 
passage with difficulty through a narrow channel. A 
few villages were seen here and there; and a number 
of old castles and towers stood in ruins high above us^ 
on the tops of rough and lofty eminences, to show the 
importance of the pass in times when every range of 
mountains, and every river, divided the territories of 
rival princes. Several beautiful little vallies among 
the hills were cultivated in imitation of the great Val 
d'Arno, with which they communicate by natural wind- 
ing passages. Here the ditches are of an unusual size 
and depth, to furnish drains for the great quantities of 
water poured into the vallies in the rainy seasons; 
which otherwise would tear up the soil, and destroy 
the vineyards and wheat fields. When the view at 
length became more extended, large tracts of the 
great valley appeared before or behind us. This 



LEGHORN. 421 

sight grows more and more delightful, the more we 
become habituated to the state to which it has been 
reduced^ by the ingenuity and industry of its inhabi- 
tants. It is marked all over like an engraved copper- 
plate, with hises of canals and ditches, dug in such a 
manner as to drain off the superfluous water from the 
river, whenever it threatens to deluge the country on 
its hanks ; as well as to retain it in reservoirs in the 
hot seasons, and to water the whole surface of the 
ground when parched with drought. Every little 
farm is an island, being surrounded by a broad canal; 
and the ground is every where throwr? into gentle 
ridges, which are crossed by little furrows, to facili- 
tate the discharging of the surplus water frequently 
poured upon it by the rain. These canals are crossed 
by small arched bridges of stone and plaster ; and 
when they serve as boundaries to different wheat 
fields, are lined with trees of the natural size, sup- 
porting festoons of vines, though the trees in the vine- 
yards are trained as before described. It is difficult 
to imagine the appearance of such a tract, when over- 
looked from an elevation like that from which we 
viewed it. Every glimpse between the hills pre- 
sented the valley of the Arrio stretching away to an 
immense distance, sometimes too far for the eye to 
reach, covered with ten thousand farms, all reduced 
to this beaut iul system of cultivation, each supplied 
with the white house of its master, and with its own 
wheat fields, vineyards, and branching canals. Every 
object became more dim as it retired, till the surface 
assumed a light brown hue, and at last disappeared 
in the distance. 

By the road side was a large manufactory of straw, 
the first ever established. The number is now consi- 
derable, and the quantity of hats usually kept on 



422 LEGHORN. 

hand is large. We passed near the two villas of 

Prince and the Grand Duke of Tuscany, whose 

costly buildings, beautiful gardens and cypress avenues 
made a disagreeable contrast with the dreary hills 
around them. A few wretched old villages lay scat- 
tered about the country, one of which, on the top of a 
hill on the left, was pointed out as the place whence 
the family of Bonaparte removed to Corsica. Napo- 
leon is said to have visited the place when he was in 
Tuscany, and to have acknowledged the remains of 
some branches of his family in a number of its inha- 
bitants, not likely to be otherwise distinguished from 
the herd of degraded villagers. 

We left the hilly country at length, after riding a 
long time on the level plain, and approached Pisa which 
stands on the Arno and in the midst of the valley, here 
more than twenty miles broad, and extending east and 
west to the horizon. Pisa appeared beautifully as we 
rode along the river. The Arno runs between deep 
banks walled with hewn stone, over which are spacious 
streets faced with palaces ; and three fine bridges are 
thrown across it at nearly equal distances, one of 
which is at least cased with white marble. A corres- 
ponding air of grandeur appears in the smooth and 
silent streets lined with fine houses, the university, 
hospitals and palaces of Pisa. In short almost every 
thing expresses its ancient wealth and importance as 
well as its present desertion. Leghorn, situated fifteen 
miles from Pisa on a fine harbour, has robbed her of 
her commercial character, and become the port of this 
delightful valley. Communication is kept up by means 
of a canal; but this necessarily reduces Pisa to the 
grade of a secondary city, which has in consequence 
become half deserted. The means of living here are 
cheap, and the climate is preferable to that of FIo^ 



LEGHORN. 423 

Fence, because farther removed from the mountains, so 
that strangers in consequence resort hither in consi- 
derable numbers, and occupy large houses and even 
palaces at a very low rent. The Cathedral, Baptis- 
try, Campo Santo and Leaning Tower, all appeared 
to great advantage, built of white marble, in a large 
open square. 

Leaving Pisa and travelling two or three miles, 
Monte Nero, a hill near Leghorn, at length appeared 
before us ; and on the right of it, over a cluster of 
distant houses, we had a cheering sight of the masts 
of several large ships, and the Mediterranean — the 
highway to our country. It was late in the afternoon, 
and peasants were returning from town ; the women 
arrayed in a new taste, with red turbans, large ear- 
rings and crucifixes. Among some of the groups it 
was easy to recognise the independent carriage of 
Neptune's sons in two or three joyful young sailors, 
who had just come on shore, and in the midst of their 
friends were moving towards home. We returned 
some of their smiles, and could not but sympathize in 
their joy at reaching the end of their travels, while for 
a moment we were not inclined to contradict what 
their countenances expressed : that the valley of the 
Arno is one of the most beautiful spots on the face of 
the earth. 

The two gates through which we passed, the canals, 
draw bridge and high angular banks, spoke a city of 
no small importance, strongly fortified on modern prin- 
ciples. The largest street in Livorno, or as we call it in 
English Leghorn, is long, broad, straight and well built. 
Every thing at the entrance assumed the air of a 
commercial city : — houses crowded with inhabitants, 
rows of shops full of foreign articles, a crowd of ship- 



424 LEGHORN. 

masters, mates, and sailors, of different nations, 'min- 
gling with the inhabitants and peasantry. Several 
persons we took for countrymen on account of iheir fa- 
miliar faces, and an indescribable peculiarity of air, 
which unaccountably reminded us of our own coasts 
and harbours. 

Leghoriv, March 12. — A part of the city is so much 
cut in pieces by canals for vessels and boats, that it 
bears the name of New Venice; and all along the 
port the bustle speaks the most active commerce. 
Boatmen beset us in broken English; we were sur- 
rounded by sailors, ship-carpenters, anchors, spars, 
ship-timber, bales of goods and a \^holesome smell of 
pitch and tar. A large ship was seen coming into tha 
harbour, which a stranger informed me in English was 
supposed to be the United States sloop of war Spark, 
from Genoa ; and so it has since proved. 

The usual mode of travelling between this city and 
Genoa is in boats called felucce, which carry the long 
picturesque sails of the Mediterranean, and are capa- 
ble of making much way in a calm and a smooth sea; 
as they are provided with oars and are always well 
manned. We are uncertain whether to take passage 
on board the felucca Aquila, which the master most 
highly recommends, or to go by land. Travellers 
frequently suffer much inconvenience and danger iQ 
these boats : for the weather is remarkably variable 
along the coast, and the only shelter they can offer 
during the night is a spread sail On the other hand, 
those who travel by land fiiid the roads very bad at 
best, and much of the way nothing better than a foot- 
path, over high and tedious mountains, where the inns 
are represented as miserable, and the expenses unrea- 
sonably great. To increase the difficulty of deciding, 



I 



ROAD TO GENOA. 425 

one of my friends wishes to reach Genoa as soon as 
possible to sail for Gibraltar, and the other fears to 
risk his improving health on board of a felucca. 

Leghorn, March 13. — In this city we find ourselves 
comparatively idle. Here are no Roman ruins, no 
classic sites, no master-pieces of architecture, paint- 
ing or sculpture. One might indeed learn the value 
of the port by ascertaining the exports, imports, ton- 
nage, &c. if he were possessed of a commercial genius, 
and fond of taking extensive views of subjects, might 
point out new channels and new objects of trade, to 
benefit Italy or foreign countries. But all this would 
have no reference whatever to the antiquity we have 
now formed a habit of revering. We have lately 
been in Rome ; and though there is little else than 
poverty to be seen, yet Leghorn with all its wealth 
seems disgustingly modern, and I fear we shall never 
become sufficiently modernized again to be even com- 
fortable. 

Ijvccx^ March 14. — The result of our uncertainty is 
that we are at length in this city, so far on our way to 
Genoa by land. This morning, while we were in the 
midst of our doubts, it happened that some travellers 
arrived at the inn in a crazy old vehicle which they 
dignified with the name of a coach, and their driver of- 
fered to take us on his return as far as Spezla. We 
did not long deliberate : for the felucca master had 
begun to show some signs of false-heartedness ; and 
we soon found ourselves rolling along the level road to 
Pisa. As we approached that beautiful city, women 
and men were seen drawing boats along the canal ; 
and children ran along by our side with long sticks, 
and blue flowers of a sweet sickly smell tied at their 
ends, and managed with such dexterity as to keep 
them within two or three inches of par fgices, yet -so 



426 ROAD TO GENOA. 

as not once to touch us, whining all the while in £i 
melancholy tone, to win upon our purses. 

We stopped at Pisa two hours, and had some leisure 
to examine more particularly than before some of its 
interesting objects. The Church of Holy Mary of the 
Thorn is built on the bank of the river, and is a most 
singular specimen of architecture. The style is 
Moorish Gothic, and far excels every other in the 
complication and roughness of its ornaments. Indeed 
the building is so covered with sharp points, that it 
looks as forbidding as a cluster of brambles. It was 
erected for the depository of a pretended thorn from 
the crown of our Saviour, from which it has its name. 

As soon as the road left the great plain, it began to 
wind among narrow vallies, which preserved the same 
level for a long time. At first the land was poor, 
though often deluged ; and the houses few and wretch- 
ed. Beyond, small semicircular walls of stone were 
built all over the hills, to support terraces just large 
enough for single olive trees, which covered them 
with a deep verdure, and gave to the landscape the 
liveliness of our early summer. The vallies are 
covered with wheat, lupines, and pease, now about 
twelve inches high ; and drained by deep canals and 
occasionally divided by rows of tall trees, from which 
vines hung in festoons. The poplars were budding 
and a few apricots were seen in blossom, showing the 
season to be in the same state of advance as it was at 
Naples on the first of February. On the hills above 
Us stood old towers and battlemented walls, long de- 
serted and half in ruins : once the fortresses of chief- 
tains jealous of each other, and bloody in their dis- 
putes for their little territories — these valleys and hill- 
sides — though now their names and histories have pro* 
bably been forgotten even by tradition itself. 



ROAD TO GENOA. 427 

We stopped at the Custom House of the Grand 
Duke, and about half a mile bejond at that of the 
Dutchy of Lucca ; after which we observed a great 
improvement in the appearance of the country. The 
canals were dug with still more labour and beauty 
than in the Val d'Arno, the great mother of all these 
little vallies. The dwellings of the peasants were 
much more spacious and comfortable, and were 
built along the road at equal distances. In front of 
each was a small arched bridge, crossing the canal 
which always bordered the path. The appearance of 
the people had much improved ; small droves of hogs 
and flocks of sheep were tended by women and chil- 
dren, well dressed and with happy and healthful coun- 
tenances. The women had short scarlet jackets with 
long sleeves; and instead of hats wore coloured hand- 
kerchiefs upon their heads, usually blue and tied under 
the chin. Villas were not uncommon among the hills, 
and contributed to give the face of things a still more 
agreeable aspect. 

Our sorry horses and crazy vehicle had spoken s^ 
gloomily of what travellers might expect in this coun- 
try, that we had taken the precaution in Leghorn to 
provide an ample store of provisions ; and occasion now 
commended our prudence : for no decent inn was to 
be found, and while we produced our travellers' re- 
past, it improved our appetites to reflect, that without 
it we must have gone hungry to Lucca. Here we 
arrived about sunset ; and after driving through nar- 
row streets, between well built houses, arrived at the 
Hotel of Europe, where we have been supplied with 
large and well furnibhed rooms. The city walls are so 
thick as to furnish a pleasant walk all around : a thing 
not very uncommon in Italy. The architecture of the 
churches is some approximation towards the Gothic, 
(which 1 regret I am not well enough instructed to trace 



42U kOAD TO GENOA. 

out,) having little colonnades with a great many small 
round arches crowded closely together. Our road- 
book mentions few interesting objects here ; and we 
had only time to observe an air of respectability in 
the people and their habitations, during a walk 
through a few streets in the twilight, which it is 
natural enough for us to attribute to those liberal 
institutions which the little republic so long en- 
joyed. 

Sf>£ziA, March 15. — It was hardly six o'clock when 
we left Lucca, and was so dark that we saw nothing 
for a long time. When day at length broke, moun- 
tains appeared, white with snow, and the tops of the 
hills just above us, some barren and others covered 
with the rich olive groves which afford the celebrated 
oil of Lucca. The hills often terminated with old 
walls and square towers, which looked down upon the 
vallies below as if they were yet proud of their an- 
cient strength and importance. 

As objects became more distinct, the valley was seen 
covered with fields of great fertility, and divided by a 
winding river which we crossed on a fine bridge. Such 
however is the quantity of water which the hills pour 
down after every storm, that its banks are strongly for- 
tified with high walls; and considerable tracts of land 
lying too low to be drained, are deluged by it and ren- 
dered quite useless. Yet the inhabitants are wretch- 
ed, carrying burthens in a slavish manner on their 
heads, and dwelling in hovels. 

At Santa Pietra, an old-fashioned little town, we 
stopped and were conducted to the police-office to 
have our passports examined, as we had crossed the 
frontiers of the Dutchy of Modena. Every thing was 
uninviting—- narrow dirty streets, low houses and po- 
verty-stricken people — nothing lofty except the airs of 
its governor, who mistakes impudence for dignity. 



ROAD TO GENOA. 429 

Near the old towers which defend the gates of the 
town, we observed two ancient marble coffiris hand- 
somely sculptured, one of which is used as the basin 
of a public fountain. 

Not far beyond we stopped at two other custom 
houses, near the boundary of the Dutchy of Massa 
Carrara. We observe slight variations in the cus- 
toms of these little distinct states as we pass along, 
%vhich although of small importance are yet not wholly 
destitute of interest : because they indicate the opera- 
tion of different systems, as wel! as a very limited cor- 
respondence between the subjects of adjacent go- 
vernments, who, in new American settlements, would 
regard each other as intimate neighbours Yesterday 
we noticed man;^ little niches in the walls of the 
houses, and gardens, supplied with plaster jfigures re- 
presenting saints, &c. which reminded us of the do- 
mestic gods of the Romans. The following pertinent 
inscription is from a sun-dial in the territory of Massa 
Carrara : " Speranti tarda^ velox timentiy One of the 
capitals of this little territory. Massa, is a small town 
which makes a very pleasant appearance on the side of 
a hill, where its white houses and villas and the palace 
of the duke are seen mingled with olive trees. On 
approaching it however, poverty looked out at the 
doors and windows, and through the tattered garments 
of the inhabitants. The road too in some places was 
almost impassable, and the style of living, on the 
whole, appeared to us to be very uncomfortable. It 
is consolatory to think, that if this be a fair specimen of 
the whole dutchy, there are but few inhabitants to suf- 
fer from its slovenly habits and neglected agriculture : 
for its whole population amounts to only thirty-eight 
thousand souls. At Carrara, which is but a few miles 
offj are the most extensive marble quarries in Italy. 



430 J^OAD TO GENOA. 

which indeed supply the sculptors of a great part of 
Europe. 

It was afternoon when we reached Sarsana, the first 
town in the territory of Genoa. x4s soon as we stop- 
ped at an inn outside of the walls, which our coach- 
man as usual preferred, we were surrounded by boat- 
men and mule-drivers, each of whom seemed ready to 
take us on his back as his lawful prey. For some time 
the confusion was so great that we coiild distinguish 
nothing; but at length, by hearing one at a time, we 
learned that the river JVlagra was much swollen by the 
rains, and therefore, if we were to believe the asse- 
verations of both parties, it would be madness to go 
either by land or water. They both agreed that it 
would be impossible for our vettura to be got across, 
because there was no boat large enough to hold it. 
Then the boatmen insisted that it would be certain 
death to attempt to cross the river, and that there were 
countless torrents beyond, so that we could do nothing 
but take their boats ; while the mule-drivers declared 
that we should be drowned in the boats, that they 
knew a place where the Magra was fordable, were 
acquainted with the whole road, and would promise 
to conduct us safely either to Sestri or Genoa. 

At length we resolved to proceed in the vettura; 
and having ordered the coachman forthwith to lead 
out his sorrowful horses, we pursued our way across 
the waste plain, half a league, to the Magra. The 
river was about a quarter of a mile wide, and bor- 
dered on the opposite side by a range of hills of con- 
siderable elevation; while the half marshy, half sterile 
appearance of the plain spoke of frequent and dan- 
gerous floods. The ferry-boat had just landed in spite 
of the violence of the current, although it had been 
carried a good distance down ; and when we reached 



ROAD TO GENOA. 43| 

the spot, we found a courier getting out his horses 
and carriage, and harnessing them on the shore. He 
seemed in great haste to pursue his journey, as if he 
were the bearer of important news : but we had little 
time to question him, and he little disposition to an- 
swer ; so we set off for the other side, hoping no new 
disorders had happened to impede our progress to- 
wards the north. Several peasants were with us in 
our little boat, who with a civility suited to the place, 
offered us the most convenient situations for standing, 
while they pointed out an old citadel and town on an 
opposite hill, and told us the evils of living on the 
shore of a '^ bad river," like the Magra. The women 
had again a new fashion to show us — broad- brimmed 
hats of straw with very low crowns, the hair confined 
in a long bag of net-work on the back of the head, 
and coloured handkerchiefs on their shoulders. A 
queer old man with a large black hat directed our 
attention particularly to the opposite town of Tre- 
biano, if I rightly understood the name; for the lan- 
guage was little better than totally unintelligible to us. 
It had been a place of great consequence, as it com- 
manded the passage of the river, which is usually 
fordahle at this place; and formerly gave the title of 
Dukes to its possessors, who were men of power and 
privilege. 

When the boat grounded, some of our companions 
carried us ashore on their backs : and as we all walk- 
ed along the foot of the hills, they gradually turned 
oflfj by little paths winding through olive grounds and 
among vines trained on trellisses. leaving us with their 
good wishes to pursue our journey. As it was late in 
the day, our road was shaded by the hills ; but it 
overlooked the Magra, the waste plain beyond partly 
covered with bushes, the town of Sarsana among the 



432 l^OAD TO GENOA. 

hills dark with olives, and behind them a ridge of 
mountains covered with snow and facing the sun It 
was not wonderful that the old man should have taken 
so much interest in the history of Trehiano, the an- 
cient fortress of a little romantic territory, the tradi- 
tionary details of which could hardly fail of pleasing 
the taste of an antiquary, particularly if they were 
interwoven with scenes most ^miliar to himself, with 
the names of his family, and the hves of his ancestors. 

At late dusk we reached Spezia; and stopping at 
an inn were shown a dining-room and chamber, where 
the furniture was a medley of the luxuries and the bare 
necessaries of life. Mule-drivers have been oflfer- 
ing to conduct us over the mountains to Sestri, but 
their demands were so exorbitant and unreasonable, 
that caution and the expression of much indifference 
were necessary on our part to prevent the most gross 
imposition. A contract has at length been reduced to 
writing and signed by a fellow we have engaged ; in 
which, according to the custom most approved by tra- 
vellers in this country, a present is promised to the 
guide himself, on condition of his giving us satisfaction. 

Some indescribable change is taking place in the 
language. Whether it be owing to the words or only 
to the manner of speaking, the people are not only to 
a great degree unintelligible, but have lost almost all 
the soft and flowing sounds of the Italian. To us it is 
highly ludicrous to hear the people gravely conver- 
sing in more barbarous tones at every stop, though 
our habits have become such that, I cannot tell how, 
we feel no disposition to laugh. 

BoRGHF.TTO, March 16, («/ noon.) — At six o'clock we 
mounted our horses, and began to ascend the hill, on 
the side of which stand the ancient and weather- 
beaten houses of Spezia. This was the beginning of 



KOAD TO GENOA. 



433 



a tedious ride of an hour or more along a fine road, 
which stretched by zigzags up the side of a mountain. 
Our guide was on foot, yet he travelled so much faster 
by climbing among the rocks from angle to angle, that 
he was often obliged to stop for us to oviertake him. 
From the top we enjoyed a retrospect of no small 
beauty. The mountains were half covered with olives^ 
and descended in an irregular horse-shoe to the water, 
like the hills of Baiae, but on a far more magnificent 
scale. Spezia lay below on a beautiful bay, from 
whose banks ran out several points, furnished with a 
few houses and towers; while the Mediterranean was 
seen beyond, and some distant land on the horizon. 
The whole theatre below us was in the shade : for the 
sun had not yet risen so high as to appear over the 
mountains. In some places however, the light broke 
through the narrow vallies, and falling bright on the 
tops of the trees and the green terraces fresh with dew, 
showed the beautiful artificial outline of the hills, and 
brought to mind the industry of the inhabitants, far 
IDore valuable than the most fertile soil. 

As we descended on the opposite side, the prospect 
was in melancholy contrast with what we had just 
been admiring: rough mountains, bare from base to 
summit, excepting where a few detached spots of land 
were cultivated, in the neighbourhood of miserable 
huts and little woods of old chesnut trees. A few 
poor mountaineers were carrying hay and wood in 
bundles on their backs to Spezia ; but the road soon 
dwindled away, and consigned our party to a blind 
path, and the gloomy scenery of wild and deserted 
mountains. Through the broken valley that wound 
at their feet ran a swollen torrent, which our horses 
forded without difficulty, although uprooted trees, 
loose rocks, and broad beds of pebbles showed that 

55 



434 ROAD TO GENOA. 

the land on both sides had been often overwhelmed 
by a furious and irresistible deluge. 

Thus we proceeded for three or four hours, along a 
path so narrow that two horses could barelj go abreast, 
and sometimes so steep as to put all their sagacity in 
requisition to keep their feet. The prospect seemed 
more and more dreary at every new turn : other 
mountains rose, of a more enormous height and more 
disheartening sterihty. Some of them aflfbrded a lit- 
tle soil here and there, just enough for the support of a 
few old chesnut trees, which were planted in rows on 
large terraces ; but the greater part presented an uni- 
form surface of grey stones, from which large rocks 
had rolled down, and now lay in shapeless masses all 
over the valley. A few persons were found inhabiting 
a country even so desolate as this, their birth and 
habits having attached them to the very sterility and 
desolation from which our hearts revolted : for smoke 
was discovered rising over cottages placed at great 
distances from us and from each other ; and we saw a 
few clusters of houses hardly worthy of the name of vil- 
lages, which being built of stones were w^ith difficulty 
distinguished from the walls around them. They 
were usually situated at the distance of two or three 
miles from the path we travelled, in places where we 
could not see the least appearance of vegetation, and 
where it seemed impossible that the inhabitants could 
gain a subsistence. Sometimes a small dwelling was 
perched alone on a summit, near a little spot oi 
grain or a vineyard, at such a height above us that I 
sincerely believe I could not have reached it in a 
whole day. 

But our attention was often diverted by the difficul- 
ties of the path. Our horses had been long accus- 
tomed to the mountains and to travelling in companyJ 



ROAD TO GENOA . 435 

Bind it was impossible to make them follow any other 
order of march than a single file, and any other rules 
of prudence than those that long habit had esta- 
blished. The path was frequently so narrow as to be 
impassable for two at once, and sometimes so steep as 
to appear to us quite dangerous. In several places 
too it wound round the face of a steep hill, with a 
precipice on the right one or two hundred feet deep; 
so that a single mis-step would have thrown us down, 
horse and man, into the torrent below. A little habit 
however made us rely with confidence on the caution 
and sure-footedness of our animals ; and in places 
where we should at first have held our breath with 
dread, we soon learnt to ride on unconcernedly, taking 
care only to sit steadily and to give them the reins. 
In the middle of the useless valley below we at length 
discerned a round hill, quite covered with vines and 
wheat fields, which although shrunk to an insignificant 
size by the surrounding mountains, presented a most 
agreeable object to the sight. A little beyond we dis- 
covered the miserable town of Borghetto, which is 
furnished from the products of that hill with a scanty 
supply of bread and wine. For the remainder of their 
food, the inhabitants are obliged to fish in the tor- 
rent, and to gather chesnuts and shoot hares and 
partridges on the dreary mountains. Chesnuts form a 
very important article of their food. They are four 
times as large as those in America, of a much sweeter 
flavour, and yield a fine flour by grinding of which the 
inhabitants make most of their bread. A very ancient 
stone bridge crosses the river, full thirty feet above its 
present surface : but as it is only wide enough for foot- 
passengers, we were obliged to ford it below ; and our 
horses as they sprung on shore sorely frightened a 
party of women and children, who were washing 



4^6 HOAi) Tb GENOA. 

iclothes on the margin. The looks and dress of thes^ 
people did ample justice to the poverty of the coun- 
try ; and when we entered the town, we were ready to 
pronounce it the most disgusting group of habitaijons 
we had ever seen. In addition to the usual dirty 
streets with broken pavements, and rows of wretched 
houses built by poverty and inhabited by laziness, 
Borghetto has a new source of inconveniences. The 
ground on which it stands is but little above the ordi- 
nary level of the river ; and it is therefore overflown 
at every flood, in spite of the town walls, which seem 
to have been built partly for the purpose of excluding 
it. The streets and cellars are still swimming with 
water in many places, and the buildings have general- 
ly a high-water mark^ running along about the middle 
of the basement story. The church which stands 
very low is sometimes half under water, and then be- 
comes inaccessible except in boats. Here is a mean 
post-house and inn^ furnished with just enough provi- 
sions to ensure the traveller against starvation, and 
iSuch charges as seem designed expressly to lighten his 
pockets for the remainder of his toilsome journey. 
We were furnished with stale wheat bread, which had 
been brought across the mountains ; and with some 
difficulty obtained a piece of " castagnale^^'' or chesnut 
bread. The inn-keeper looked a little ashamed as he 
brought it out, and well he might, unless it is wrong to 
feel mortification at the extreme poverty of one's na- 
tive soil. It was a damp, heavy cake about the size of 
one's hand, of a mahogany colour and a sweetish 
taste ; and looked more like a mass of moist red clay 
than a piece of bread. 

Sestri, evening, — Leaving Borghetto, we found the 
Xiountry growing still more wild, and presenting the 
^enes peculiar to gigantic mountains in a thou-. 



ROAD TO GENOA, 43^ 

sand new varieties. The summits rose above us to a 
most stupendous height ; vallies spread broader and 
deeper below, so that it was often painful to look down; 
and as we slowly moved along, we grew more and 
more ashamed of the insignificance of riian, and imost 
lost our courage at the sight of such overwhelming 
proportions. 

We were frequently obliged to avoid the common 
fords by circuitous paths, on account of the swelling 
of the torrents: and this served to convince us of the 
absolute necessity of a guide. Indeed without one a 
traveller must inevitably lose his way, among the blind 
paths, and run many risks of drowi-ing. 

At length we reached a place where parties of 
peasantry were at work, on a road commenced by the 
French, and slowly advancing under the king of Sar- 
dinia. It shows all the various stages between com^ 
mencement and completion. In some places it has 
been only marked out — in others the workmen were 
digging it to a level, and in others still there was only 
a loose pavement of rough stones laid as a foundation* 
Even women and girls joined in this laborious work — 
such is the custom of the country— -and forming lines 
carried baskets of earth on their heads, instead of 
being found at the loom, the dairy, or the school* 
house, as they would inevitably have been in our own 
country, leaving the work to carts and oxen. We 
were usually forced to keep the old mule-path, along 
which our horses plodded at their accustomed gait, 
and in their established order, with caution and 
safety ; though it was often so steep that we had to 
walk, and sometimes offered so precarious a footing, 
along the steep brow of a mountain, that the guide 
made us dismount, lest the scraping of our knees 
against the encroaching bank on one side, should make 



438 liOAD TO GENOA. 

the horses swerve from the track and throw us down 
the precipice on the other. One maj form his own 
conclusions concerning; the state of society, in a coun- 
try where the inhabitants have been content with 
roads hke these ever since the Flood. I speak of all 
parts of Italy we have seen ; for excepting a few fine 
mihtary roads made by the governments, the only 
access to villages is generally by mere mule paths; and 
many of the inhabitants can never have seen a wheel- 
carriage. This new road will be very fine. It winds 
along the sides of the mountains, keeping the same 
angle of ascent or descent, occasionally crossing a deep 
ravine on an arched bridge, or turning round the face 
of a precipice, where the solid rock has been re- 
moved by blasting, so as to furnish a terrace twenty 
or thirty feet wide. In many places a great deal of 
labour and expense would be incurred every year by 
its exposure to the torrents, which the rains form in 
every little natural channel, but for the foresight and 
expedient of the engineers. Each of these chan- 
nels is allowed to run unobstructed beneath stone 
arches, built of a size amply sufficient to allow a pas- 
sage to those vast floods of water, and the stones and 
earth they bring along with them. The surface of the 
road is made flat, and slants towards the mountain, 
where it empties the water it receives from the rain 
into a paved gutter, and is thus preserved from ano- 
ther threatened injury. The most thorough acquaint- 
ance must have been obtained with the country, to 
ascertain with precision the angle of ascent, which 
brings the road after so many turnings exactly to the 
summit ; and it is a most interesting specimen of human 
ingenuity and power, in a place where one would other- 
wise regard himself as a member of an insignificant 
race of beings, to see its bold and lengthened lines, 



ROAD TO GENOA. 439 

now stretching along the steep side of a mountain and 
descending into the valley, and now attempting the 
opposite eminence with obstinate perseverance in a 
toilsome zigzag, and at length reaching the top by 
many laborious but successful windings. 

The rocks were of compact lime-stone, frequently 
mixed with large masses of fine slate, whose strata 
were nearly perpendicular. In one very elevated 
place, several hills were formed of a black, loose rock, 
which much resembled common fossil coal, but was un- 
doubtedly some variety of hornblende. 

Here was a scene of the most perfect desolation : 
mountains and vallies, uncultivated and uninhabited. 
The eye ranged over whole miles of surface; but 
excepting only two or three shepherds and their little 
flocks, not a living thing was to be seen, not a vestige 
even of former inhabitants : not one stone upon ano- 
ther which had been placed by the hand of man. 
Between the rocks a few solitary shrubs were to be 
found ; and some of them had put out a little bunch 
of unknown reddish flowers, to show that they too had 
at length begun to feel the influence of a backward 
spring. 

Thus we travelled a long time, till as the road gra- 
dually wound round the side of the mountain, we 
began to see trees scattered over an undulating sur- 
face at an immense distance below. Green olives and 
vineyards next appeared ; then little fields and gar- 
dens, single houses and trees planted for ornament and 
use ; and two or three monasteries or chapels. This 
was beautiful indeed ; and our eyes rested upon that 
first civilized and verdant spot, with some degree of 
that delight which a sailor feels at the sight of land, 
when he is half surprised to discover how well he 
loves green hills and the society of man. A thick 



440 ROAD TO GENOA. 

cluster of white painted houses was now seen at the 
foot of a hill, and the masts of several boats led us to 
observe that they stood on the margin of the water. 
In 'du instant a turn in the path brought us round the 
obstructing rocks ; and with great surprise and plea- 
sure we gazed on the Mediterranean, which lay 
stretched out almost too far for the eye to follow it, 
until it met the sky. Four blue islands were distin- 
guished on the horizon, two of which the guide pointed 
out as Corsica and Elba : but these were the only ob^ 
jects to break the uniformity of the ocean, which lay 
under a serene sky in perfect tranquillity. We saw 
however one little speck near the shore, which proved 
to be a felucca, moving slowly along with its oars : 
perhaps the '' Aquila," in spite of all the false-hearte4 
promises of its masters to be at Genoa in two days. 

As we proceeded, with a prospect now open, now 
obstructed, we gradually gained the highest point of 
the whole road — ^a bare ridge which overlooked the 
neighbouring mountains — and travelled along its top for 
two miles, frequently enjoying- scenes of great subli- 
mity. On the right was a succession of mountainous 
peaks, some of which seemed composed entirely of sand. 
These were irregularly illuminated and thrown into the 
shade by the setting sun, which spread over some of 
them a brilliant orange tint ; and as they lay below, 
we looked upon them from a commanding height, like 
travellers in a balloon. On the left lay the ocean, at a 
depth below which we despaired of estimating, stretch- 
ing cut to the west till it almost touched the sun. At 
length we discovered a deep valley about two miles 
in diameter, at the bottom of which were a few poor 
houses ; and vines were seen here and there, support- 
ed by trees trained into still larger and more regular 
foruas than any we had ever seen. The few domestic 



GENOA. 441 

animals there were apparently fed on dry leaves, for 
their pens were full of them. 

The descent was now very rapid, and seemed so 
dangerous in spite of the zigzags in which the path 
continually turned, that we several times dismount- 
ed, choosing to trust to our feet. At sunset we were 
among broken hills and deep ravines where cottages, 
walls, vineyards, and olive trees were scattered 
among ledges of rocks and the dry beds of torrents, 
in a variety highly picturesque. Haviig crossed a 
valley a quarter of a mile wide, entirely covered with 
loose pebbles, we forded a swift stream which every 
year overflows the banks and makes a tremendous tor-? 
rent, and rode two miles among vineyards where muU 
berry trees are formed with great regularity, and gar- 
dens where the green trees and flowers gave an exhila- 
rating sweetness to the air. Our poor horses sponta^ 
neously quickened their pace, and cheerfully ambled 
along a smooth road, till they came to the suburbs of 
Sestri and stopped at the first inn they saw, 

Genoa, March 17 — Sestri is a small town situated on 
a round hill which rises from the water; and it pre- 
sented a very cheerful sight this morning as we passed 
it at the distance of half a mile, with its old towers, 
olive groves and white houses, brightening in the 
rising sun. The road came to the beach, which 
stretched away six or eight miles round the head of 
the bay. The neighbouring land was high and irre- 
gular particularly on the opposite side, which was a 
ridge of mountains, bare and channelled near the top, 
and so far off that they assumed a soft purple hue. 
In some places the road passed under high ledges of 
rocks, cut down like a wall on the right ; while large 
fragments lying in the water, half covered with sea- 



442 



GEJNOA. 



weed and exposed to the waves, often formed a fine 
foreground to the beautiful distant scene. 

Two or three little villages were built along the 
road; and many of their inhabitants who were drawing 
their nets on the beach, were remarkably well dressed 
for their humble employment. The women wore the 
hair uncovered ; and several men with round hats and 
large trowsers, like sailors at home, had a degree of 
enterprise in their air which if it be characteristic of 
the Genoese, as I think it is, may well claim for them 
the name of the Yankees of the Mediterranean. 

At length we rode through a fine town called Chia- 
vari, whose streets though narrow, were quite lined 
with shops protected by long piazzas from the sun and 
the rain, and making a rich display of all sorts of mer- 
chandize. Beyond this place the coast is almost moun- 
tainous, and a fine road winds round the outer sides 
of the hills, among dark groves of olives, looking down 
from a greater and greater height upon the sea, which 
comes quite to their bases. In two places holes have 
been bored through the rocks to give a passage ; but 
the view is usually uninteriupted, having in front a 
portion of the road, and the steep hillside broken up 
by the terraces and shaded with olive trees. At a dis- 
tance were seen various points of land, the sea and 
the sky ; while a fine day showed them all to the best 
advantage. 

Rapallo stands in a small bay of the same name. 
As we entered, the women were sitting in groups in the 
streets, making lace and talking on subjects apparently 
gf much importance — whether national or local we did 
not learn. Our way still lay on the sides of lofty hills, 
almost overhanging the sea; but at length the view 
was confined to a small piece of ground shut in by the 



GENOA. 443 

mountains. Here the road seemed to terminate ; but 
we found a tunnel had been blasted through, and we 
entered a dark passage thirty or forty yards in length. 
When we emerged, an extensive prospect was opened 
to our eyes. Just under us appeared a great many 
rounded hills, quite coated with olive groves and 
rising from the very shore of a broad and beauti- 
ful bay, on the opposite shore of which was a fine 
ridge of mountains, scattered with a few white houses 
half way up their sides. . They were nearly fifteen 
miles off, and had the rich purple tint of the moun- 
tains on the bay of Naples, and no small share of their 
magnificence. On the right, and still about ten miles dis- 
tant, several long hills thickly inhabited pointed to the 
shore with a gentle descent; and where they reached 
the bay, were lost among an indiscriminate mass of 
ships and edifices, which crowded the harbour and the 
city of Genoa. It was a cheering sight — We had now 
passed the inhospitable mountains, as well as the 
various inconvenrences and privations of our more 
southern route ; and we looked forward with light 
hearts to the comforts and enjoyments of a better 
state of society. Besides, we were far from the 
tumult of the Austrians and Neapolitans : revolutions 
now lay beyond the Appennines — the country we were 
looking upon seemed as if reposing in the enjoyment 
of peace, and the ships sailing by far belovi^ remind- 
ed us of different countries and continents no less 
happy. 

Among the numerous hills between this spot and 
Genoa, some of which had looked so green and fertile, 
stands Santa Margaretta, a village on the coast ; and a 
little beyond we passed a villa, pleasantly situated in 
a semicircle of hills opening on the bay, respectable for 
its age rather than remarkable for its beauty. We in- 



444 GENOA. 

quired its name : " It is the villa," said a young Genoese 
in our company ; " the family still possess it, though cir- 
cumstances have much impaired their fortunes, and de- 
prived them of that consequence which under the 
Republic made them rank among the most illustrious 
of Genoa. They usually reside in the city, but have 
removed to this villa within two or three days for 
greater security." " Had they any particular danger 
to fear." " No, our independence is nearly secured; 
— but they deemed it prudent to be a little out of the 
reach of the revolution," — then seeing us start and 
look at each other, he added, " for you have doubtless 
heard that Genoa has proclaimed the Spanish Consti- 
tution^ and that the Sardinian has fled .^" We assured 
him that it was a new and unexpected piece of intelli- 
gence. " Indeed ! Have you not heard that the stu- 
dents of the University of Alessandria have taken up 
iarms, and excited all Piedmont to a revolt? As soon 
as this was known at Genoa the whole city was in 
commotion ; the constitution Was proclaimed, and the 
king made a precipitate retreat, nobody knows whither. 
But did you not meet the corriere ? He was imme- 
diately despatched with the news — it is three days 
^go." '* We met him at the river Magra, but had no 
lime to question him. Are we to apprehend any 
inconvenience in travelling, on account of these 
changes ?" " I imagine not," replied our compa- 
nion, " it is not the policy of the revolutionists to 
molest such as do not meddle with the politics of 
the country. No — Europe is too much enlightened 
to bear it any longer, and Zegna, [Genoa,] after the 
freedom and independence she so long enjoyed, will 
never be content with any thing less than its re-esta-* 
iblishment. She has suffered under oppression which 
those only can fully suffer who have once been free ; 



GENOA. 445 

but now il is at an end. If she has more to endure, it 
will be only the privations and sacrifices necessary for 
regaining her liberty." 

Thus our companion continued to expatiate on the 
prospects of his country, for which he showed so much 
enthusiasm, that it was impossible not to join with him 
in admiration of her ancient glory, and ardent hopes 
for her future prosperity. The green of the olive trees 
which covered the hills brightened before our eyes, 
when we reflected that they had been planted by free- 
men ; and each of the secluded vallies as we passed 
seemed too delightful for a country of slaves. 

We inquired whether the step taken by the stu- 
dents had of itself produced the revolution. "Oh! 
no," he replied, " the sect of the Carbonari deserve 
the honour of having prepared every thing long ago. 
To their influence is to be attributed the noble exam- 
ple which Naples has set us : have you heard the re- 
port to-day, that the women of Gaeta have made a 
sortie, and killed .5,000 Austrians ? The Carbonari 
are extended in all countries, indeed every liberal 
man may be considered as belong:ing to this society. 
They are called Liberals in France, Constitutional- 
ists in Spain and Portugal, Patriots in America, and 
Radicals in your country." " You take us for Eng- 
lishmen, we are Americans." " Americans !" said 
he, with an expression of pleasure and of respect, 
" Then you must feel interested in us. Your country 
is now the only free country on earth, and therefore 
the only happy one. But it is to be hoped that we 
may at length increase the number, though for the pre- 
sent Genoa must be content with mere improvement, 
and only hope for perfection. A plan for a general 
insurrection in the north of Italy has long been con- 
certed. The Carbonari have held an extensive secret 



446 GENOA. 

correspondence^ by which it was agreed that Lom- 
bardy should take the lead, as soon as the Dews 
should arrive of any important success gained by the 
Neapolitans : but the pr^triotism of the students at 
Alessandria, uho ;«resonsof the first fatnih^^s in Pied- 
mont, was not to be restrained; and we shall pro- 
bably hear, on our arrival at Genoa, that the Lom- 
bards have riseii in arms, and that the Austrian army 
is enclosed by its enemies. The Grand Duke and the 
Pope will not find their subjects backward in rebel- 
lion ; and such enthusiasm will be spread through all 
Italy, that — mark wfiat I say- — not a single soldier of all 
the emper^yr's troops will ever see Austria again /" '^ O spare 
a few oi them !" we said to ourselves — ^^ those honest 
fellows who left us unmolested when they had us in 
their hands, while they might so easily have stopped 
us in lonely places with a pistol hall, or have hid- 
den us among the rocks, or thrown us from precipices 
— and more especially those with whom we lately 
sat so peacefully on the same hearth, at Nepi, Terni, 
and San Giacomo." 

But we were fast approaching Genoa; and the large 
villas, which were scattered about the hills on all 
sides, served to remind us of her former wealth and 
greatness. Matiy of them were very splendid, and 
stood in the midst of extensive grounds, partly orna-J 
mented and partly cultivated; but the edifices them- 
selves were usually painted with various colours and 
figures, so useless and tawdry as to disgust our 
eyes, with a display of barbarous taste in a new 
variety. 

The appearance of improvement however in mor€ 
important particulars drew away our attention. The 
peasantry live in cottages, it is true ; but there is a 
neatness about them, and an air of comfort, superior 



GENOA. 447 

to any thing on the other side of the Appennines. In 
a small valley which retired from the sea shore be- 
tween two dark hills, the soil was fertile and covered 
with gardens, where great quantities of vegetables 
were growing for the supply of Genoa. Here each 
family inhabited in a cottage comparatively neat and 
comfortable, cultivated their little fields, and drew 
water at their own door, by means of what is called 
in America a well-sweepe. The scarcity of timber how- 
ever is betrayed in a way calculated to strike very 
forcibly the native of a welbwooded country. Instead 
of raising the body of a tree to support the long lever 
by which the bucket is raised — awkwardly 1 allow, yet 
just as we see it at home — they build a tall column of 
stone and mortar. It would doubtless be a very curi- 
ous subject to trace customs even as simple and tri- 
fling in themselves as this, from country to country, if 
the means could be obtained ; and to learn the circum- 
stances in history connecting the Genoese with the New 
Englanders in so trivial a point as this. It is proba- 
ble however that all the books in the world would not 
be able to afford any material information on this sub- 
ject ; and it is certainly less laborious and more agree- 
able to trace it to a similarity of habits, of character, 
and of exigencies: for I he Genoese have become by 
their superior daring, industry, and enterprise, the 
sailors of fhe Mediterranean, as the Greeks are of the 
Archipelago, and the Americans of a still larger por- 
tion of the world. 

But the peasants were coming out of the city in 
groups as we approached, and the women attracted 
our attention by the singular appearance they made 
with shawls, or long figured muslin handkerchiefs, 
thrown over their heads, the ends being confined by 
their folded arms. The long parallel hills which 



448 GENOA. 

gradually rise behind Genoa, as they retire back froiu 
the shore, now began to betray marks of the extreme 
outposts of the fortifications, at the distance of two or 
three miles, while much of the courjtry wore an aspect 
at this season decidedly sterile The road at length 
wound over drawbridges, and through dark gates of 
hewn stone, from which we emerged into the Via 
Nuova — a street of no great width but lined with two 
rows of very large buildings; which for their size and 
costliness, though not for their taste or beauty, are 
called palaces. This street, with several bendings 
however and two changes of name, extends to the 
length of a mile or more, and certainly presents a 
scene of the splendour of wealthy citizens 1 never 
saw equalled. 

We were ready to exclaim, '* Genoa has been 
rightly called a city of palaces" But we saw cause 
to change in some respects our first opinion of the 
city, when we were told that the streets leading to 
the Swiss Hotel were too narrow for a carriage. We 
were conducted through several lanes only about 
twenty feet wide, where the buildings on each side 
made our way very dark, and the articles crowded at 
the shop doors and the bustle of busy men almost 
prevented us from proceeding. 

Genoa, March 18.— The closed shops and the de- 
sertion of the streets to-day intimate a regard for the 
Sabbath quite new to us in this country. Instead of 
the ihrongs of citizens and peasants we have always 
found promenading on that day, the few persons we 
saw were going to church with great seriousness. 
This is undoubtedly owing in a degree to its being 
the season of Lent: yet it seems impossible that Ge- 
noa should ever be the scene of as much hilarity on 
the Sabbath as Rome and Naples. 



G£NOA. 449 

The church of Cagliano is one of the finest build- 
ings in the city, and is certainly a noble work for an 
individual. It stands on the ridge of a hill, which is 
so steep that it was accessible only with great labour, 
and through streets but ten or twelve feet wide, until 
a fine bridge was constructed across the narrow 
valley, which looks down on a street and the roofs of 
buildings of five stories. It is of brick, about a 
hundred feet high, with three arches ; and is a great 
thing for modern times, though most unfortunately 
it forms an obtuse angle with the walls of the church. 
We entered during service ; the audience were all 
seated instead of standing or kneeling, and turned 
and regarded us with some surprise, as if they were 
not accustomed to the intrusion of strangers. It was 
remarkable also that there were hardly any men 
amongst them. They were all females, with long white 
scarfs covering the head, coming all round the face, 
and then wrapped about their arms according to the 
fashion of the city, as described to us months ago by 
our old friend Mattia. 

This afternoon, at the time when the arrival of 
the corriere from Alessandria was expected, a great 
many people were collected about the post-office, who 
showed by their actions how much they were affected 
by the uncertain state of the country. They were 
anxiously expecting news of a revolution in Lom- 
bardy, and were prepared to feel strong with such an 
accession of power, or feeble without it. 

Genoa, March 19. — To-day has been a festa or holi- 
day, and the morning was devoted to staying at home 
or going to church. In the afternoon however the 
great street was crowded, like the Corso of Naples or 
Rome of a Sunday. The language we hear spoken 
is to us almost unintelligible. Many differences ar^ 

57 



450 GENOA. 

doubtless to be found between it and that of Tus- 
cany: but some of the most apparent are those pro- 
duced by changing the sound of a few letters. 
Soft g is always pronounced like our z ; and r and / 
sometimes change places. Genoa is called Zegna; 
morto, molto^ and molto, morto. 

The long and uninterrupted rows of palaces, which 
give such an air of magnificence to the streets Nova, 
Novissima, and that which connects them, furnish at 
every step some proof of the ill taste of their build- 
ers. Some are placed on uneven ground, some are 
glaring all over with glass, or darkened by small win- 
dows, others are ill-divided by entrances or low sto- 
ries, and many are basely disfigured with paint. Here 
one sees, or fancies he sees, the Genoese merchant 
betraying his parsimony, as well as his want of taste. 
The absence of architecturaL ornament among the 
palaces of Florence may be lamented : but an at- 
tempt to supply friezes, pilasters, and columns, with 
an economical brush, to save hewn stone, is paltry in 
the extreme. Rome, degraded as she is in some re- 
spects, would laugh it to scorn. Nobody ever felt dis- 
posed to thank the bankers and princes of Genoa, for 
thus disgusting his eyes to save their own purses. 

There is a very striking similarity in the physiog- 
nomy of the women, which is beauty at a distance, but 
plainness close at hand. All their faces are so much 
alike, that it would require time for a stranger to be- 
come accustomed to their minute differences before 
he could tell them apart. Whatever may be the 
cause of such a phenomenon, the Genoese females all 
resemble each other and no body else — a thing en- 
tirely unknown in our country, where time has not 
been given for the physiognomy natural to the soil, if 
there be such a thing, to begin to show itself This 



GENOA. 451 

IS a curious subject, and one about which it is verj 
difficult to come to any certain conclusions. It is safe 
however to state facts ; and certainly something as uni- 
versal as common law, has given the faces of most of 
the Genoese ladies an oval form and a peculiar ex- 
pression, and gently turned all their noses up, without 
distinction of age or rank. 

I experienced no small pleasure to-day, in stepping 
from a boat rowed by two Genoese watermen, upon 
the deck of the brig , from Newburyport in Mas- 
sachusetts, among a crew of my own countrymen. 
This is the only American vessel in the harbour, and 
the captain took charge of a package for the United 
States, with a cordiality which showed that the sight of 
a countryman reminded him of many delightful things. 

Among the crowd, hawkers were crying the Consti- 
tution of Spain; and a few persons were carried about 
in sedan chairs, for all the streets in the city are too 
narrow for carriages, with the exception of three or 
four, and riding seems to be almost out of fashion. 

We visited the Palace Serra, which is one of the 
finest in the city, and saw a much greater display of 
wealth than taste. The keeper placed himself at our 
head, and threw open the doors with such an air, that 
we expected to see some of the seven wonders of the 
world. Instead of that however, he had but some 
half dozen of pictures to show us, including frescoes 
on the ceilings, and two or three apartments where 
much expense had been lavished on gaudy decora- 
tions. But what was expected to excite our raptures 
was a hall hung round, not with original paintings, but 
with large mirrors, and whose roof was supported by 
columns, not made of Egyptian granite, or verd-an- 
tique, but covered with gold-leaf beaten out of Veni- 
tian sequins ! Here were no relievos, busts, nor sta- 



452 GENOA. 

tues : but the old man showed us some gold chains, a 
few specimens of embroidery, and a French clock, with 
a smile as if he had been giving a child a rattle. 

This palace is new, having been built only about 
thirty years ; and, like a few others in the city, be- 
longs to a family now in the height of prosperity. 
Many of the ancient families have by various causes 
been reduced even to want, and their spacious resi- 
dences are wholly deserted, or rented at a very tri- 
fling sum. A fine palace in the Via Nova, with its 
silk tapestries and heavy furniture, is occupied by an 
English merchant, who pays only the value of a hun- 
dred pounds a year ; and there are so many instances 
of such melancholy changes, that the great men of this 
once powerful city have left their descendants little 
else than empty names and empty palaces. 

We crossed the Via Nova and entered a gate, to 
see the full-length portrait of a man who must ever be 
regarded with high admiration, both for his genius and 
for the immense and sublime consequences of his ac- 
tions. The painting is in fresco, on the wall just 
within the door of the Palace Spinula, and of course 
cannot be a master-piece of the art. But here the 
artist is forgotten, and so would he be if he were Ra- 
fael himself. It was enough for us that we were in 
Genoa, and that this was a portrait of Christopher 
Columbus. If a Spaniard could write on his tomb ; 
« He has given a new world to Castillo and Leon," in 
gratitude for the wealth which his discovery promised 
to Spain, what shall we say, when we stand in the 
birth-place, and in the presence of the man to whom 
we are in debt for our country? Here are such cir- 
cumstances as none but an American ever was or ever 
can be placed in. Many discoveries have been made, 
but what were they ? A mountain, a river, or a sea 



GENOA. . 453 

was crossed and a new tract of land was discovered, 
possessed, and inhabited, large enough for a colony, a 
city, or a nation. But who ever formed such a plan, 
or overcame such obstacles — who, with the most bril- 
liant success, ever brought to light a country large 
enough to adjust the balance with Europe, Asia, and 
Africa — what discoverer ever produced consequences 
of such import to mankind ? This picture in this place 
brings to mind America as it was in the time of the 
Genoese — then it changes to its present aspect — 
forests disappearing, cities built, nations springing up 
and fast spreading over from one sea to another, and 
fleets sailing to every corner of the world We seem 
to look down as from the Appennines, upon the hills 
and vallies he discovered, upon our own home and 
the land of our fathers ; and while we regard it with 
that peculiar aflfection which is felt when the eyes are 
fatigued with foreign scenes, we find our gratitude 
equal to our admiration. 

East of the city is a fine promenade, reaching for 
three quarters of a mile along the border of the bay, 
which has been raised, and supplied with parapets 
and a long line of artillery that ranges over the an- 
chorage. The harbour is large and partly protected 
from the violence of the sea by two moles, one on 
each side : but the entrance is so broad as materially 
to disturb the shipping, which at this time was rolling 
very much, while the waves were dashing among the 
rocks below us, and throwing the spray over the para- 
pets. The opposite side of the harbour is Hned with 
large store houses, now nearly empty, though once 
the reservoirs of an extensive commerce; while the 
long covered passages we had before traversed, and 
found half deserted, were then the centre of traffic 
for the merchandise of the Mediterranean. 



454 ROAD TO TURIN. 

Alessandria, Morch 21.— The carnage in which we 
travel is called a Diligence, and is formed precisely' on 
the plan of the French stage-coaches of that name, 
which travellers describe as the most lumbering, un- 
wieldy machines ever invented lor the transportation 
of human bodies by land. It is however strong and 
safe ; and the laws coiicerning it are so wise and ef- 
fectual, that the traveller is sure of a comfortable seat, 
good roads, good treatment, good inns and punctual 
arrival, without suffering the extortion of a corriere. 

Our fellow passengers were almost all Piedmontese, 
who, for some reasons they have not seen fit to avow, 
have been spendirtg months or years away from home, 
and are now hastening to Turin, as they were all for- 
ward to declare, for the purpose of joining the army 
which the Prince Regent is raising. Two of them 
were formerly officers and one a soldier ursder Buona- 
parte; of whose talent and success they expressed 
the warmest adriisralion, while they condemned him 
for his insatiable ambition. Their conversation ra/i on 
armies, and collaterally on such political events as 
were likely to affect armies. Their style was height- 
ened much above the ordinary level of travelling 
dialogue, and betrayed the delight they felt at being 
restored, by a happy revolution, to the immediate en- 
joyment of the freedom of speech, and a shortened 
prospect of the stations they had fallen from, and 
the scenes they loved ; while their familiarity with 
blood, their unblushing fronts at the narration of their 
own vices, together with the tremendous imprecations 
they were continually pouring out, made us shudder at 
the moral diseases generated by war, and the contami- 
nation it spreads through nations and continents. To 
us, who are not accustomed to standing armies, but to 
a militia that supply in patriotism what they want in 



ROAD TO TURliV. 455 

discipline, it presents a spectacle no way flattering to 
the countries of Europe — the questions of liberty and 
slavery committed to armies of such men as these, who, 
with hearts worthy of a bad cause, forget their country 
and every thing good when they take the field, and 
fight only for pay and plunder. 

We travelled from three in the morning until ten, at 
a slow rate, because the road, though very fine, was 
gradually leading us up the sides of long mountains. 
Some of them were of pudding-stone, and entirely 
waste and barren, excepting here and there a little 
wheat, a vineyard or a few chesnut trees. Men were 
driving mules towards Genoa, loaded with panniers of 
fine cauliflowers, and others towards Alessandria with 
packages of goods. It is the custom here to shoe their 
animals with plates of iron, projecting about four 
inches beyond the toe and bending a little up, under 
the vulgar belief, (possibly well founded.) that it is 
easier for travelling, particularly in climbing moun- 
tains. We met a few women with long red and white 
shawls over their heads, and the men had white caps 
striped round with red. They all had the marks of 
health in their faces. Some of them wore cloaks made 
of striped blankets, and several were carrying heavy 
loads to a distant town, over that long and weary road. 
From the summit of the ridge, the view reached back 
over the waste mountains descending gradually to- 
wards the sea, and the city of Genoa with the green 
hills in its neighbourhood. We passed through a few 
miserable towns, and saw others on the tops of high 
and almost inaccessible hills : but we at length reach- 
ed the foot of the mountains, and felt happier at finding 
ourselves on a level road, and proceeding at a quick- 
ened pace along a fine valley, covered with green 
wheat and spotted with small vineyards, where the 



456 ^OAD TO TURIN. 

vines were short, and lay on the ground. It is a branch 
of the great valley of the Po, which beginning at the 
foot of the Alps, follows the course of the river, 
and joining the small vallies on its branches, extends 
as it proceeds, and comprehends a large part of Pied- 
mont and Lombardy. This extensive tract of country 
is no less remarkable for its beauty and fertility, than 
for the numerous battles of which it has been the the- 
atre. At Novi, a town through which we passed, is the 
ground where Suwarrow fought the French under Jou- 
bert, on the 16th of ^August 1799. 

As we rode along, the ground appeared perfectly level 
on all sides for several miles, and presented a scene of 
the greatest fertility, where as usual, no hedge, no fence 
intervened between the cultivated fields. There were 
several villages situated upon the road whose appear- 
ance ill accorded with the luxuriance of the soil, and 
spoke but too plainly that the inhabitants had more to 
do with the tillage than the fruits of the ground. One 
of the meanest of these was Marengo — composed of 
several hundred cottages built of mud, and pre- 
senting so comfortless a scene, that a traveller would 
«hut his eyes upon it, were it not for the battle fought 
here on the 14th of June 1 800, between the French 
and Austrians. The whole plain is admirably calcu- 
lated for the manoeuvring of armies, as it is firm 
ground and not divided by either hedges, fences, or 
ditches. 

The same scene continued the remainder of the day 
until sunset, when we came to a broad ditch crossing 
the road, and reaching to a considerable distance to 
the right and left. It was full of water; and the earth 
which had been thrown out formed a high bank on its- 
margin, well covered with turf A range of cannon 
peeped over the top, which seemed ready to sweep 



ROAD TO TURIN. 457 

tlie plain : but they remained silent as we passed over 
the draw-bridge and through the gate. The other side 
of the bank now showed itself, furnished with inclined 
paths for drawing up the guns, and flat surfaces for 
them to stand upon. At a little distance further we 
crossed another ditch, which was divided by a fence 
of stakes, and through another gate. Here was a 
specimen of the modern system of fortification in its 
simplest form, and comprehensible by persons the 
least conversant with the subject. An army approach- 
ing is resisted at the outline. If they succeed in cross- 
ing the ditch, climbing up the counterscarp, (or steep 
side of the bank,) and in maintaining a position, the 
besieged have only to draw down their guns, retreat 
across the next drawbridge, shut the gate, and open 
a battery upon them, at still greater advantage than 
before. The assailants have not the least defence 
from the breastwork they have won : for every thing 
being reversed, they are on the wrong side, and are 
still forced to 6ght on the plain, exposed without 
a shadow of protection, to the descending shot of the 
enemy. In front there is a winding path, so made as 
to lead up to a new raking fire at every turn ; as well as 
a higher bank and a broader ditch, obstructed by a 
fence of long stakes driven into the bottom ; while the 
troops within be 1 collected into a closer body, and 
shooting from behind a taller and more solid breast- 
work, are sweeping down the soldiers as they hesi- 
tate with discouragement, and their officers while 
they are meditating new plans of attack. When we 
reached the third ditch, which in some places is 
double, and remarked the superior height of the bank, 
the brick and hewn stone which frequently supplied the 
place of earth, and the darkness of the gate which 
indicated the great thickness ol the- wall ; together 

58 



458 ROAD TO TlTRm. 

with the muzzles of heavy cannon that almost grazed 
our elbows as we entered, we thought that patriotism 
and our military companions were now on the safe 
side. We were stopped an instant, and hastily exa- 
mined by the soldiers, but were permitted to proceed 
without delay. Some labourers passed us with pick- 
axes and shovels, who had been at work for ten days 
in repairing the breaches in the fortifications made by 
the Austrians in 1814, and our companions rejoiced at 
the news that they were rendered stronger than be- 
fore, declaring that the emperor would now find the 
city impregnable. 

It was sunset as we entered the " Square of Arms,'^ 
and were ordered to stop. The square though large 
was filled with people, who were evidentl}' in a state 
of agitation, and immediately crowded round the 
Diligence and inquired the news from Genoa. Our 
fellow travellers thrust their heads out at the windows, 
and talked with great fluency with every one who chose 
to speak to them, but it was impossible to satisfy the 
anxious multitude, who formed such a dense body and 
made such a noise about the carriage, that the police of- 
ficers had no small difficulty in hearing us answer to our 
names, and in getting us off to the Governor's Palace. 
They guarded us with great politeness into a small 
dark room in an upper story, where our passports were 
produced, and we were arranged before the tribunal 
for a strict examination. When lights were brought 
several of our party were recognized by the police 
officers, and welcomed with a cordiality which partook 
not a little of the tremulous anxiety so universal. They 
seemed agitated, and often stepped aside to whisper in 
each other's ears. " Signor ," said the judge, ad- 
dressing my countryman, " Is that your name ? — Well 
— you are a student," (for our friend at Naples, partly in 



ROAD TO TURIN. 453 

roguery perhaps, had written in our passports that we 
were students by profession,) " a student of what ?" 
We were both unprepared for this question, and knew 
not what to say : for students are now persons of po- 
litical consequence ; and the eyes of all the company 
were turned upon us. Our fluent military companions 
however hastened to say that we were Americans, and 
felt interested in the success of their cause, so that we 
were soon delivered from suspicion, and treated with 
cordiality. Our passports had yet to endure so par- 
ticular a scrutiny, that we feared lest they might be 
found defective in some particular through our neglect, 
as we should certainly have met with serious difficulty, 
and might perhaps have been detained in Alessandria, 
and involved in its uncertain fate. We were at length 
released, and the officers apologised for treating pa- 
triots and friendly foreigners with as much rigour as if 
they had been spies ; and then, pointing out the way 
to our inn, wished us good night. This inn is built in 
the usual manner, but is much the most comfortable 
and best furnished we have met with in Italy. The 
city has the air of neatness, and wealth. The Square 
of Arms is surrounded by coffee-houses, and a senti- 
nel I observed at a palace was in the dress of a 
citizen. 

Turin, March 2. — Just outside of Alessandria is a 
bridge over the Tanaro, where we were stopped by a 
sentinel until he could wake his officer, and show him 
our passport. Our fellow travellers seized the oppor- 
tunity to point out the spot where the French filled up 
the river, to supply the place of the bridge which the 
inhabitants had destroyed, and thus entered the city. 
It continued dark for a long time, as it was three 
o'clock when we started ; and after several hours we 



466 ROAD to tURlNi 



n 



were among broken ground and a poor, yellowish 
soil, chiefly uncultivated, though we saw a few vines 
on the hills and some wheat in the valleys. The 
wheat fields are generally long and narrow ; and the 
ploughs used by the inhabitants are made in a very 
bungling manner of wood, even to the share. Oxen 
are used in ploughing, as well as harrowing, and we 
observed they were all of a large cream-coloured 
breed, and wore white blankets. The head-dress of 
the women is sometimes a white cap, sometimes a 
broad gypsey hat of coarse straw. 

We took coffee at Asti, a large town, and were not 
a little surprised on asking for bread, to see the waiter 
bring in a number of long sticks, of the size of pipe- 
stems, and lay them upon the table. We repeated 
the demand, and were near laughing, when it appeared 
that both he and his master called them bread, and 
expected us to eat them. The taste was agreeable 
enough, but we found it required so much time to ma- 
nage them, that instead of making way with a couple of 
yards, (a moderate allowance for a breakfast,) we had 
hardly swallowed a foot and a half when the Diligence 
was proclaimed ready. 

Here a young man joined us, who, though not in the 
University, was preparing for a scholar. He told ub 
that the students, who marched from Alessandria yes- 
terday, were at Asti this morning, and could not be far 
before us on the road. He was warm-hearted and 
sprightly, and engaged our hearts by the good nature 
he betrayed when he discovered we were foreigners, 
and almost entirely ignorant of the Piedmontese dia- 
lect, his native tongue; but we were sorry to find that 
the thoughts of so amiable a young man, had never 
been employed on a subject so interesting to us as 



ROAD to TURIN. 46 i 

America, of which he hardly seemed to have heard 
even the name, and evidently now thought of it with 
interest for the first time. 

In the neighbourhood of this place has been disco- 
vered the site of Nova Alba, an ancient Roman city; 
and many interesting antiques have been dug out of 
the earth. A tract of country over which we after- 
Wards passed rose in long and gentle hills, in such a 
manner as to present with pleasing variety fields co- 
vered with different crops, occasional rows of trees 
and a few villages with churches arid spires. At Villa 
Nova we stopped to dine. A flag was hung out at a win- 
dow of the inn, which bore '* Italia Liberatao Morte," 
-^" Italy free or death ;" and every apartment was 
thronging with the revolted students. With much dif- 
ficulty we obtained a small bed-chamber, where a 
plain table was spread for us, next the dining room, 
where the young patriots were eating and drinking 
with much noise and riot. When we had eaten some 
maccaroni, and two or three other dishes of meat, and 
disposed of a yard or a yard and a half of bread each, 
the drum beat to form the line of march, which was 
performed, but in a slovenly style, under the sarcastic 
eyes of our military companions. The students were 
all in their usual long black coats, without any mark 
that I recollect to distinguish them, and excited many 
a jest and suppressed laugh from the balcony over 
head, where we were standing, at their boyish beha- 
viour in disputing for seats in the baggage-wagons, 
their college air, and the awkward manner in which 
they handled their muskets 

While at table, one of Buonaparte's quondam sol- 
diers insisted on showing us some of the inn-keep- 
er's best wine, which with some difficulty was pro- 
duced, and proved excellent. This led the conversa- 



4^2 B.OAD TO TDRlN. 

tion to American cider and English porter, and variouiy 
other subjects relating to the two countries. We 
explained the difference between roast beef and beef- 
steaks, which gratified our young friend as he had al- 
ways taken them for the same thing. One said we were 
very happy in America, the only free country in the 
world. The student inquired if we lived under the 
Spanish Constitution : but for this he was laughed at by 
one or two who knew better. He asked if female edu- 
cation were conducted on the same plan as in England 
-^-in short if our ladies possessed the gentleness and 
modesty of the English females. We told him that 
on that subject we wo^ild yield to no country on earth. 
" Ah !" cried he, " you are blessed indeed ! Though 
an Italian, I grieve to say I do not like the manners of 
my countrywomen ; and from what I have seen of tra- 
vellers, I entertain so high an idea of the character of 
English females, that I never see one without regarding 
her as more than mortal." The rest of the company 
deemed that they were no better than Piedmontese or 
Neapolitans : but, with a tenacity which in my own eyes 
did high honour to his tast<' and judgment, and the 
purity of his heart, he adhered to his opinion, and de- 
clared again that he never even thought of an Enghsh 
lady without considering her, " a fair spirit from a su- 
perior world." 

After dinner we reached the borders of the great 
Valley of the Po, covered with fine fields of wheat 
and varied by a few trees. For several hours we 
rode on among them, until late in the afternoon ; when 
we had reached the bank of the Po, a shallow river a 
hundred yards across. The water is so shallow at this 
season, that an American would call it a very small 
stream : but history has given it an interest wholly inde- 
pendent of Its size. On the right hand wa» a range 




■A 









TURIN. 463 

of hills, much shaded with olives and scattered with 
houses and villas, among which was the late palace of 
the king, now pointed out as that of the Nation ; while 
at a great distance before and on the left, were seen 
the Alps, rising abruptly from the vast plain, first in 
dark ridges and then in lofty peaks covered with snow, 
like noble walls l)uilt of white marble, and intended to 
divide the nations of men. Turin at length appeared, 
with its beautiful bridge stretched on arches across 
the Po, and the domes and towers of its churches 
rising from the plain. The Alps stood at a great dis- 
tance behind on three sides, partly obscured by 
clouds, while their sides and summits were white, and 
in some spots were gleaming bright in the sun, as if 
they had been overspread with silver. 

The female peasants had changed their caps for 
enormous hats of straw. A little girl five or six 
years old, who was leading home two large quiet 
grey oxen, showed us a pair of rosy cheeks and fine 
eyes, encircled by the brim of such a hat ; and, 
though unconscious of it herself, has as pretty a face 
and as contented a mind as any little girl in all 
Piedmont. 

Having crossed the bridge, which was built by the 
French, and is a most beautiful specimen of architec- 
ture, a police officer stopped the Diligence in a square 
at the entrance of Turin, and demanded our passports. 
A walk extends from that place along the margin of the 
Po, and people were walking in all directions, appa- 
rently meditating on the uncertain fate of the country. 
Questions poured in upon us the instant we stop- 
ped. — We observed many about us with the bearing 
of influential citizens, and the powdered hair, spruce 
dress and courtly manners which our fathers say at 
home indicate an education in the old school. Some 



464 TURIN. 

with the air of politicians, inquired if the Genoese 
had confidence in the Prince Regent, whether the 
Alessandrians felt assured of success, and if thej ex- 
pected the Lombards to take their side. The con- 
versation of several others drifted on the side of com- 
merce ; and a few more merely asked what was the 
state of the roads, whether the season were more ad- 
vanced at Genoa, when the troops might be expected, 
and how they looked on their march. 

" So you are come on to help us fight," said one to 
his friend the soldier^ — "Are you all military.'^" inqui- 
red one of the police. " No, but we are all Piedmont- 
ese, except a Roman and two Americans," " Ameri- 
cans !" said the officers with some surprise, " where 
are they ?" and he stepped forward with much curi- 
osity expressed in his countenance, as if he had ex- 
pected to see some whimsical specimen of human na- 
ture from a distant corner of the world, and was form- 
ing in his own mind a savage according to the best of 
his knowledge, of a mixture of skins and gew-gaws. 
When he saw however that we were white and wore 
clothes — in short, that we looked like Christians and 
Piedmontese, he shrunk abashed; and making a most 
apologizing bow instantly retired. The news had 
spread among those about us, that there were actually 
two living Americans in the Diligence ; and several 
heads were successively thrust in at the windows, as if it 
had been a den of wild beasts, bringing staring eyes 
and gaping mouths almost into our faces. But they re- 
treated as precipitately as if a lion had roared, and 
this only seemed to increase the curiosity of those be- 
hind, for nobody who had obtained the wished-for 
sight was heard to utter a single word, but each re- 
tired with precipitation. It was with difficulty we re- 
strained our laughter, though it must be acknowledged. 



TURIN. 455 

that it was not very gratifying to be taken for a mon- 
ster until the opposite was proved. There were how- 
ever, a large proportion who evidently knew some- 
thing of America, and advanced with more suppressed 
curiosity, and much respect, as towards the represent- 
atives of a country they considered the happiest on 
earth, and to men born and educated among political 
privileges and blessings far very far, superior to those 
at which they were aspiring, and for which they had 
just put their property, their friends, and their own 
lives in jeopardy. Their thoughts had been so long 
employed about freedom, that the very name of a re- 
public awakened their feelings in an instant ; and we 
began to wish ourselves old and wise enough for sages, 
and tall enough for giants, that on descending from 
the Diligence we might produce something corres- 
pondent to the ideas they Rpomf>d in have formed, of 
the power and wisdom of our country. 

The appearance of Turin struck us very agreeably 
at our entrance : for the houses are good and built 
with much regularity, and the principal streets are as 
straight and broad as those of Philadelphia. In one 
particular they are to be preferred to any city in 
the United States — the side-walks are under wide 
arches, opening on one side into shops and coflfee 
houses. These things argued at once a superior taste 
for what we consider many of the necessaries and 
comforts of life, and the dress and port of the citi- 
zens proved that they had advanced an important 
grade in civilization. 

Turin, March 23. — As no Diligence went to-day, 
we were forced to remain ; and have been disap- 
pointed in a walk about the town, to find so few of 
those objects which in more southern cities are al- 
ways ready to occupy, if not to instruct a traveller at 

59 



466 truRiN. 

leisure. The cathedral and the churches which we 
saw had nothing remarkable, except the non-descript 
barbarisms of their cupolas : jet on leaving them, we 
could not help feeling that the inhabitants had shown 
a taste well accordant with our own, in preferring the 
comforts of good houses, clear and spacious streets, to 
the much vaunted but less substantial pleasures of an- 
cient pictures and splendid chapels. 

A fine walk bordered with trees quite encompasses 
the city; and even at this season of the year, while the 
trees are still stripped of their foliage, presents a fine 
view of the neighbouring hills, the Valley of the Po, 
and the long range of the Alps. The Po is very shal- 
low and runs slowly. It was a little surprising to find in 
this part of the world, so rude a remnant of barbarism 
as a canoe. There were several boats of this descrip- 
tion along the ehnr^, formpct of hollowed logS, CXaCtly 

like those used by the Indians fur whom i suppose we 
were taken yesterday. 

In the city every thing wears a serious aspect, 
corresponding with the state of the country. The 
theatres are quite closed — even against religious dra- 
mas; horsemen are contir)Ually patroling the streets 
night and day; a train of military wagons entered a 
few hours ago ; and sentinels in the dress of citizens 
are placed at every public gate and door. At the 
coffee-houses, (where we observe it is the fashion for 
every person to r^ise his hat at entering and retiring,) 
the conversation is almost exclusively on political sub- 
jects ; and the people who continually throng the pub- 
lic squares are thoughtful and anxious. Even the 
children have caught the spirit of the time, and put- 
ting on paper caps and wooden swords, march about in 
companies, as if looking for little Austrians to chal- 
lenge and destroy. 



TURIN. 



A61 



Turin, March 24, (morning,) — Before setting out 
for Suza and the Alps, we have had time to take a 
lounge in the great square, and found it excessively 
crowded, and the city evidently agitated by some im- 
portant event. The bills at the corners soon made us 
acquainted with the cause of the universal commo- 
tion : the Duke of Savoy, the Regent, had suddenly 
disappeared during the night, and left the revolution- 
ists without a leader in their utmost need. This news 
though plainly declared, was however followed by such 
exhortations to good courage, pxrnses for the conduct 
of a young and inexperienced prince, and spoke of a 
speedy revolution in Lombardy with such confidence, 
as to betray the pen of a statesman, and to intimate that 
the fugitive prince had probably not borne away on his 
shoulders the head that planned the revolution, and 
the mind which through his lips had helppd to dictate 
plans for the fuiurt- lu all Piedmont. A postcript men- 
tioned a report, that the French government had been 
overthrown by the assassination of Louis. The dis- 
appearance of the prince, it was evident, had ex- 
cited a very serious alarm throughout the city ; 
and on every side were seen parties of men ear- 
nestly discussing political subjects. There was one 
person however who seemed to take no interest in the 
concerns of the state. It was a poor woman with a 
foreign face and dress, a long stick in her hand, and a 
vandjke ornamented with cockle shells — the marks of 
a pilgrim to some distarjt holy place. She had just 
entered Turin on her way home, and weary and faint 
was looking doubtfully around, for some one to com- 
passionate and assist her. She was soon supplied, and 
in a manner she probably considered as providential: 
for although she seemed ignorant of the language, her 
scallop-shells were reamed with respect, and a shop- 



468 TURIN. 

man seeing her pass, ran after her and hospitably in- 
vited her into his house. 

The appearance of several persons we have met 
s^t the Diligence office, who are already enrolled as our 
fellow travellers for the two or three following days, is 
such as to promise us much interest and variety ; and 
one of them who is a middle aged man, in an unpre- 
tending dress, modestly accosted ns this morning, and 
declaring himself a Roman by birth and prejudice, and 
an antiquary by profession, seemed to consider us as 
experienced travellers, and to expect much security 
from a coalition, if not to lean upon us in some degree 
for protection. He already urges us to go into Switzer- 
land with him; and as we have almost determined to 
pass through that country into Germany and Holland, 
we may probably have his company for a week or 
more. 

Notwithstanding the unhappj aituation in wbich we 
leave the people of Turin, and in spite of the uncer- 
tainty and danger which still hang over the fate of 
Italy, on the eve of our departure from the country we 
.take pleasure in leaving our good wishes, and in re- 
flecting that hope of their welfare is not yet absolutely 
denied us. We feelmelancholy at the loss of our coun- 
tryman and late fellow traveller, whom we left at 
Genoa, as well as at the reflection, that in two days 
the Alps will have closed behind us, and shut out the 
sight of Italy for ever ; but while we recall his part- 
ing words : " I will see you again !" we also feel that 
we have laid up a rich store of recollections for life — » 
and who can tell what delightful scenes may be await* 
ing us on the other side of the Atlantic ? 

THE END. 



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